Weekend Story- The Monk And The Garden

There was once a monk in a monastery who was very fond of tending to his Japanese garden for hours on end. The monk would keep picking up the dry twigs from the immaculately maintained flowering bushes.

One day, while walking through the monastery, a visitor noticed the monk hard at work, fully absorbed. The monk was unaware that someone was observing him. After a few hours, as he walked through the monastery’s corridors, the visitor noticed the monk still working in the garden, concentration writ large on his face. 

Fascinated by the complete involvement and diligence of the monk, the visitor asked him, “O holy one, when will your work at the garden be done?”

Looking up and noticing the visitor for the first time, the monk replied, “When the last dry twig is removed from the garden.”