When a monk passed through a marketplace, he heard a vegetable seller and a customer exchanging words. The customer, holding a bunch of lettuce, asked the vegetable seller, “How long can this last without going bad?” The vegetable seller answered, “It depends on how you keep it.” At the moment the monk attained enlightenment.

Student: “How could the monk attain enlightenment by hearing the dialogue?”
Master: “He saw a head of lettuce that never withers.”
Commentary:
Few know that lettuce we enjoy is an elixir of life.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
