Paddle

While it is seldom seen by novices, on occasion the masters will correct each other:

Masters Banzen and Suku were planning the next release of a large and critical system. Together they iterated through the list of requirements, allocating work to various monks in their charge.

“Assign that task to me,” said Banzen at one point, “for I wrote the original code, and it is somewhat complex and sensitive.”

He repeated the phrase for a number of other items. This had been his habit for as long as Suku could remember; for Banzen toiled as hard as the monks half his age, and he took great pride in his work.

Suku posted the list of assignments the following morning. Banzen happened to glance at it during breakfast, and discovered that the tasks he’d chosen for himself had instead been assigned to a handful of junior monks.

Banzen confronted Suku at her table.

“You have been at this temple for twenty years,” he fumed. “When will you stop giving our precious rice to cooks who have barely learned how to hold a paddle?”

Suku calmly placed her chopsticks across her bowl. “I cannot say,” she replied. “When will you stop fussing over your little rice pot and make simpler paddles for those cooks?”