This Too Shall Pass

In the forecourt of the temple, a monk asked master Kaimu: How can I keep pace with all there is to know, when technology changes faster every year?

Kaimu answered: If a thing seems important, remember it.

The monk asked: Is Kaimu always so flippant? You might as well say, if a raindrop falls, drink it. The first gentle storm would burst my stomach!

Kaimu frowned and said: Go to the well at the foot of the mountain. Do not return to this temple until you have consumed ten thousand buckets.

Dejected, the monk went to the well as he was told. After a full hour he had barely finished a tenth of the first bucket, yet his bladder was so painfully swollen that he barely made it to the woods to relieve himself.

As his body rid itself of water, the monk was enlightened.

He returned to Kaimu immediately, saying: I come only to report a curious paradox. I have drunk my fill, but will be thirsty tomorrow.

Kaimu replied: Have we met? If so, I have forgotten the circumstance.

Thus did Kaimu bid the monk to re-enter the temple.