A. Master: “Go and ask Tom, your senior.”
(He goes to Tom and asks him.)
Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”
Tom: “Go and ask my friend, John. I can’t tell you the answer now because I have a bad headache.”
(He goes to John and asks him.)
Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”
John: “I can’t tell you the answer since I am busy now. Why don’t you ask such a question of the master?”
(He returns to the master and tells him what Tom and John said to him.)
Master: “Tom’s hair is white, and John’s hair is black.”
Commentary:
A dog dashes to the stone when it is thrown to it but a lion to the thrower.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Zen Fools 
I think the Master is sending the student from one monk to another to ask his question in order to show him that that is what we do in our lives. We run from one thing to another to find Happiness.
When he points out the colour of Tom and John hair he is telling him to see things as they are.
Commentary:
When I don’t t see things as they are
I will run after Happiness from things that cannot satisfy me for very long and are not what they seem.(the dog chasing the stones)
When I see things as they are or begin to see them I will go for the things that will nourish me and help me find real Happiness. (The lion recognises real food and goes for it. )
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