Encounters in Yoga and Zen. Trevor Leggett

      When the wine came, the guest could smell the delicious fragrance of it. But to his amazement, it was served to him in what would correspond in the West to an old chipped chamber-pot.

      ‘What’s this?’ he cried.

      ‘Oh, don’t mind that. It’s absolutely clean, I assure you – absolutely. What does it matter what the wine is served in? It’s a very rare wine, they say.’

      The guest tried to drink, but found he could not. He put the chamber-pot down and said quietly, ‘Why are you doing this?’

      The saint replied, ‘This vessel has been specially made absolutely clean, and the wine is a choice one. But you cannot drink it because of the form of the vessel. Now you are serving the wine of the Garland Sutra in the vessel of your life, which may or may not be absolutely pure, but in any case is of a form associated with filth. The people will not be able to accept a teaching presented like that.’

      The guest changed his way of life.