Monk's Story
A man was
driving down the road and his car broke down near a monastery. He went to the monastery
and knocked on the door. An elderly monk answered the door, and he said, "My car
broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?" The monks graciously welcomed him
into the monastery, fed him dinner, even fixed his car. As the man tried to fall asleep,
he heard a strange sound.
The next morning, he asked the monks what the sound was, but they said, "We can't
tell you. You're not a monk." The man was disappointed, but thanked them and went on
his way.
Some years later, the same man's car broke down in front of the same monastery. The monks
welcomed him, fed him, even fixed his car. That night, he heard the same strange noise
that he had heard years earlier. The next morning, he asked what the noise was, but the
monks replied, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."
The man said, "All right, all right. I'm dying to know. How do I become a monk?"
The monks replied, "You must travel the Earth and tell us how many blades of grass
there are and the exact number of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will
become a monk."
The man set about his task. Forty-five years later, he returned and knocked on the door of
the monastery. He said, "I have traveled the Earth and have found what you have asked
for. There are 145,236,284,232 blades of grass and 231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on
the Earth."
The monks replied, "Congratulations. You are now a monk. We shall now show you the
way to the sound." The monks led the man to a wooden door, where the head monk said,
"The sound is right behind that door."
The man reached for the knob, but the door was locked. He said, "Real funny. may I
have the key?" The monks gave him the key, and he opened the door. Behind the wooden
door was another door made of stone. The man demanded the key to the stone door. The monks
gave him the key, and he opened it, only to find a door made of ruby. He demanded another
key from the monks, who provided it. Behind that door was another door, this one made of
sapphire. So it went until the man had gone through doors of emerald, silver, topaz, and
amethyst.
Finally, the monks said, "This is the last key to the last door."
The man was relieved to no end. He unlocked the door, turned the knob, and behind that
door he was amazed to find the source of that strange sound.
But I can't tell you what it was because you're not a monk.