attendance at the guru’s school was low, so the guru asked the banker for advice. the banker said, “people don’t want kōans. they want comforting platitudes.”
so the guru started calling his kōans comforting platitudes, but he did not change the kōans themselves.
the banker said, “tell people what they want to hear.”
so the guru wrote a kōan that told people that they were important and valuable and that no life was a waste.
[php function=15] read it and said, “what a waste.”
