Teaching the Ultimate

The following is a very old story from Japan, quoted from Zen Flesh Zen Bones.
May it bring you a chuckle, or even much more.... but be warned, it's not a "deep thinker." I recieved it with more of a face-palm followed by an echoing of the deeper meaning.



In early times in Japan, bamboo-and-paper lanterns were used with candles inside. A blind man, visiting a friend one night, was offered a lantern to carry home with him.

"I do not need a lantern," he said. "Darkness or light is all the same to me."

"I know you do not need a lantern to find your way," his friend replied, "but if you don't have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it."

The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran squarely into him. "Look where you are going!" he exclaimed to the stranger. "Can't you see this lantern?"

"Your candle has burned out, brother," replied the stranger.