Collected by- Raghottama Koppar
A man is driving down the road and breaks down near a
monastery. He goes to the monastery,
knocks
on the door, and says, My car broke down. Do
you think I could stay the night?
The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, and even
fix his car. As the man tries to fall
asleep, he hears a
strange sound. The next
morning, he asks the monks what the sound was, but they say, We
can''t tell you. You''re not a monk.
The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes
about his merry way. Some years later,
the same man breaks down in front of the same
monastery.
The monks again accept him, feed him, and even fix his
car.
That night, he hears the same strange noise that he had
heard years earlier.
The next morning, he asks what it is, but the monks reply,
We can''t tell you. You''re not a monk.
The man says, All right, all right. I''m dying to know. If
the only way I can find out what that
sound was, is to become a monk, how do I become a
monk?
The monks reply, 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 sets about his task. Some forty-five years later,
he returns and knocks on the door of
the monastery. He says, 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 reply, Congratulations. You are now a monk. We
shall now show you the way to the
sound.
The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head
monk says, The sound is right behind
that door.
Th! e man reaches for the knob, but the door is locked. He
says, Real funny. May I have the key?
The monks give him the key, and he opens the door.
Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone. The
man demands the key to the stone door.
The monks give him the key, and he opens it, only to find
a door made of ruby. He demands
another key from the monks, who provide it. Behind that
door is 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 say, This is the last key to the last
door.
The man is relieved to no end. He unlocks the door, turns
the knob, and behind that door he is
amazed to find the source of that strange sound.
. .. .* But I can''t tell you what it is because you''re not
a monk. *