“A young man had spent five arduous years searching for truth. One day, as he walked up into the foothills of a great mountain range, he saw an old man approach from above, walking down the path, carrying a heavy sack on his back. He sensed that this old man had been to the mountaintop; he had finally found one of the wise — one who could answer his heart’s deepest questions.
“Please, Sir,” he asked. “Tell me the meaning of enlightenment.”
The old man smiled, and stopped. Then, fixing his gaze on the youth, he slowly swung the heavy burden off his back, laid the sack down, and stood up straight.
“Ah, I understand,” the young man replied. “But Sir, what comes after enlightenment?”
The old man took a deep breath, then swung the heavy sack over his shoulders and continued on his way.”
I love this. I can relate.
A monk asked, “Master, of what house is the tune you sing? To whose
style of Chan do you succeed?”
The master said, “When I was staying with Huangbo I questioned him
three times and was hit three times.”
The monk hesitated. The master gave a shout and then struck him, saying, “You can’t drive a stake into the empty sky.”
(From the Linji discourses http://info.stiltij.nl/publiek/meditatie/leraren/_historisch/linji-sasaki.pdf).