A man is driving down the road and his car breaks down near a monastery. He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?"
The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, and even fix his car. As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound; a sound like no other he has ever heard.
The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was, but they say "We can't tell you because you are not a monk."
The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes on his way. Some years later, the same man is traveling past the monastery, and again his car breaks down.
The monks again accept him, feed him, and repair his car.
That night, the man hears the same mesmerizing sound that he had heard years earlier.
The next morning, he asks what the sound was, but again the monks say "We can't tell you because you are not a monk."
The man says, "If the only way I can find out what that sound was is to become a monk, then how do I become one?"
The monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of grains of sand. When you know these numbers, you will become a monk."
The man sets about his task. Some forty-five years later, he returns and knocks on the monastery's door. He says, "I have traveled the earth and devoted my life to the task you demanded. I have learned what you asked for; there are 371,145,236,284,232 blades of grass and 231,281,219,999,129,382 grains of sand on this earth."
The monks reply, "Congratulations! You are correct, and you are now considered a monk. We shall show you the way to the sound that you have heard."
The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, "The sound is behind that door."
The man reaches for the knob, but the door is locked. He asks, "May I have the key?"
The monks give him the key, and he opens the door. But behind the wooden door is another door made of stone. The man requests the key to the stone door.
The monks give him the key, and he opens the door, only to find a door made of ruby. He demands another key, and the monks provide it. Behind that door is another door made of sapphire. And so it went, until the man had gone through doors of emerald, silver, topaz, and amethyst.
Finally, the monks say, "This is the key to the last door."
The man is relieved to be at the end of his journey. He unlocks the door, turns the knob, and behind the door he is astonished to find the source of the strange sound. It is truly an amazing and unbelievable sight.
But I can't tell you what it is because you're not a monk.
