A Zen Story

The man entered the temple’s main hall.
   Along one side which was slightly raised there were dozens of monks seated on cushions. All sat with their eyes closed, silently practising zazen. Behind them, large empty windows opened on to the zen garden beyond.
   The man looked about in uncertainty until he spotted a monk seated apart on a chair in the centre of the hall, also with his eyes also closed. Grizzled yet undeniably sage-looking in a Buddhist robe, he seemed definitely to be the leader of the bunch. 
   ‘Master, master, you must help me!’ cried the man, rushing to his feet.

   The monk opened an eye and ran his gaze over the impetuous figure before him. With a wry smile, he remained silent as he stared without blinking for what seemed minutes. Then he closed that eye again.
   No one moved to challenge what even the man knew had been a gross breach of protocol. Eyes still closed, the monk motioned towards an empty cushion three places down. Having mediated often before, the man took the place offered and raised one leg above the other in the lotus position as he had seen demonstrated on Youtube. He closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply.
   Perhaps half an hour passed. The man grew restless. He quietly returned to the monk and spoke. ‘Master? Can you help?.
   Again the monk opened one eye; again he closed it. That wry smile again. Again he gestured to the mat. And again the man sat back down.
   An hour later the same thing happened a third time. By now the man had cottoned on: this time he sat like so for hours. His tummy rumbled.

The afternoon passed and the shadows lengthened. One by one the seated monks finished their practices and left to complete evening chores before dinner. When all the others had left, that grizzled monk came and sat next to the man. At length he spoke. ‘You do realise I’m just the gardener? But you wished for my help?’
   ‘Oh. Yes, I’ve been searching for years now. How can I know the time?’
   Chuckling, the monk looked overtly at the watch on the man’s wrist. The man followed his gaze and sheepishly sighed as the realisation hit him. He remembered a saying by Lao-Tzu he'd once been told: ‘At the centre of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and what you want.’ He too began to chuckle.
   The monk rose to his feet. ‘Think you might have forgotten something?’