Only Two Words*

They say a secluded monastery

High in the mountains was very strict.

How long a monk could withstand

The rigid rules was hard to predict.

 

Maintaining a vow of silence was part

Of the monastery protocol.

Every ten years the monks were allowed

To utter TWO WORDS. That was all.

 

After his first ten years, a monk

Went to his master and bowed his head.

His master asked to hear his two words.

"Bed…hard" was all that he said.

 

"I see," the head monk replied.

The young monk bowed, left the room,

And then returned to finish his tasks--

The grounds as silent as a tomb.

 

Ten years later the young monk appeared

At his master's door, eager to say

Two more words. "Food…stinks"

Was all that he could say that day.

 

"I see," the head monk replied.

Ten more long, silent years passed.

The no-longer young monk returned

To utter his words at long last.

 

This time he said, "I…quit!"

"Well," said the master with a look of disdain,

"I understand why you'd want to leave;

All you ever do is complain."

 

-by Bob B (3-6-18)

 

*A story (source unknown) often told in Zen Dharma talks, retold here in verse