A young monk was on his way to the city, carrying an important letter that he had to deliver personally to the intended recipient. He arrived at the city's outskirts, where he had to cross a bridge if he wished to enter. The bridge was guarded by a Samurai, an expert in the art of sword-fighting, who, to prove his strength and invincibility, had vowed to challenge in a duel the fust one hundred men who tried to cross the bridge. He had already killed ninety-nine…

“What are you doing? – Sitting for 40 minutes, staring at a white wall?” she asked, “I could never do that.” She was evidently puzzled. She had realized during our first conversation that I was different, not your average guy — whoever that may be (and in no way do I want to offend all the other more or less ordinary guys) — but this strange behavior? “I couldn’t do that either” — “So why do you do it if you can’t do it?” (Sounds like a Koan – more about that later).