Once a king invited a Bodhidharma,

For a discourse on diamond sutra,

The Bodhidharma entered the palace,

In a gait that can put the roaring lions to shame,

He stood on the table before the stage,

Rapped for a second and left the palace in the same gait.

As the king couldn’t understand the episode,

He narrated it to a Zen master,

And asked,” Why the Bodhidharma didn’t speak a word?”

“The Bodhidharma was never so eloquent before”

Said the Zen master,

“His gait was loud enough to shake the earth beneath you,

He rapped to shake and wake you up from years of deep sleep”