Indeterminacy 141

After a long and arduous journey a
young Japanese man arrived deep in
a forest where the teacher of his
choice was living in a small house he
had made. When the
student arrived, the teacher
was sweeping up fallen leaves.
Greeting his master,
the young man received no greeting
in return. And to
all his questions, there
were no replies.
Realizing there was nothing he could do
to get the teacher’s attention,
the student went to another part
of the same forest and built
himself a house.
Years later, when he
was sweeping up fallen leaves,
he was enlightened.
He then dropped everything,
ran through the forest
to his teacher, and
said, “Thank you.”

- John Cage