This morning I woke up to this quote on my calendar that took me a moment to think about. It said, “One day Dong-shan was washing his bowl, and happened to see two birds fighting over a frog. A monk also saw this and said, “Why does it come to that?” “Only for your benefit,” Dong-shan said.

I know very little about Dong-shan and perhaps one day I will learn more about him, but this story seemed to resonate with me. In part because the way he answered the question reminded me of how I tend to respond to my students, always with another question or a statement, which will make them, think at a deeper level.