Rock’koan’roll Countdown

🌀 5. The Dream (John Lennon – “Imagine”)

A disciple said: “I imagine no heaven, no hell, no borders, no names.”

The master smiled: “Then who is imagining?”

The disciple was startled.

The master continued: “Where there is no possession, who asks to belong?”

🌀 4. The Climb (U2 – “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”)

A seeker said: “I have climbed every mountain, but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

The master asked: “What were you carrying?”

The seeker replied: “Only desire.”

The master nodded: “And now it carries you.”

🌀 3. The Silence (Simon & Garfunkel – “The Sound of Silence”)

A monk sat in the dark and whispered: “Hello darkness, my old friend.”

The master replied: “If you are speaking, it is not silence.”

The monk asked: “Then how does silence sound?”

The master said: “It listens.”

🌀 2. The Mirrorball (Radiohead – “Fake Plastic Trees”, 1995)

A novice pointed to a plastic tree and said: “Even this has more feeling than I do.”

The teacher responded: “Then let it water you.”

The novice asked: “Is it fake if I believe in it?”

The teacher replied: “Only if you believe you are real.”

🌀 1. The Walrus (The Beatles – “I Am the Walrus”)

A monk asked the master: “If I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together, whose hand is clapping?”

The master replied: “The proctologist’s.”

The disciple was startled.

The master continued: “Now lie down and bend your knees for Dr. Ben Casey Kasem.”