I like the spirit, though the master should merely hold up a shell and a grain of sand.

On an OT note, there are plenty of good online resources for those who are curious why Zen is associated with these strange little sayings. For a random instance, this one. (Thanks to Google.) In a nutshell Buddhism believes that the root of misery is caused by attachment, and Buddhists seek to recognize this on a deep level, thereby achieving the Great Release.

At which point you become a Buddha. Should you achieve this but pause to help others you become a Bodhisattva. Buddhists respect Buddhas for showing the way, but the Bodhisattvas are the ones who can help you.

Anyways, the specific belief of Zen Buddhism is that enlightenment can arrive suddenly by the unexpected realization that the world is self-contradictory. Hence the koans, simple statements which are meant to, upon attempting to understand them, drive your brain into a contradiction that gets you beyond the illusion of reality.

Why am I bringing this up? Merely to explain the point of Zen so that you know how to create a fake that looks more realistic to those (like myself) with curiousity about odd things. In that spirit here is my version:

The apprentice went to the Zen master and complained, "I cannot understand why people like to program in Perl. I tried but everywhere I turn I am faced with too many choices! Why would people give up the structure of a sane language like Pascal?"

In reply the master held up a seashell and a grain of sand.

In reply to RE (tilly) 1: Zen by tilly
in thread Zen by larsen

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