______________________________________________________________________________ / A certain monk had a habit of pestering the Grand Tortue (the only one who \ | had ever reached the Enlightenment 'Yond Enlightenment), by asking whether | | various objects had Buddha-nature or not. To such a question Tortue | | invariably sat silent. The monk had already asked about a bean, a lake, | | and a moonlit night. One day he brought to Tortue a piece of string, and | | asked the same question. In reply, the Grand Tortue grasped the loop | | between his feet and, with a few simple manipulations, created a complex | | string which he proferred wordlessly to the monk. At that moment, the monk | | was enlightened. | | | | From then on, the monk did not bother Tortue. Instead, he made string after | | string by Tortue's method; and he passed the method on to his own disciples, | \ who passed it on to theirs. / ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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