Riddle Monk had recently joined the Monastery.
This morning, after silence meditation, Riddle Monk asked permission from Sensei to ask the monks a riddle. Sensei clapped once as acceptance.
Riddle Monk asked, “Imagine you are the driver of a huge, powerful freight train, travelling at 100 miles per hour. Your train has a cargo of petroleum, liquefied gas and explosives. All of a sudden, you see this car stuck on the tracks in front of you. What will you do?”
Honest Monk said, “I will remember Sensei and Buddha then close my eyes.”
Truthful Monk said, “I will blow the whistle and jump out of the train.”
Aggressive Monk said, “I will demand Sensei to come in between the train and the car and stop it.”
Inquisitive Monk said, “I will check if someone is in the car.”
Business Monk said, “I will take a photograph of the car in front for insurance purposes and then jump.”
Laughing Monk said nothing. He began to laugh and laugh and laugh. His laughter became uncontrollable. Riddle Monk became intrigued and asked Laughing Monk to explain why he was laughing. Laughing Monk stopped laughing, smiled and then said, “To stop the train, I will stop imagining.”
Sensei clapped thrice and said, “There are many mental trains – packed with explosives and people that we launch and run in our minds. These trains collide and create accidents. Just blink and stop the trains. All they need to stop is a simple blink.”
*****
