In his lifetime, the Sage had to contend with all sorts of posers. The question thrown to him by a devotee seemed rather absurd:

“Wise One, is it true that if a pin is inserted into a man’s backside at a late hour of the night, when he is deeply asleep, he will feel no pain? I read it in a book a short while ago.”

The Sage bore his mind aloud:

“I’ve never heard of such a thing before. Neither can I refute nor confirm such a claim.”

The devotee bowed before the Sage and a wide grin appeared on his face as he quietly retreated to the dormitory. He chuckled as he pondered over the Sage’s words saying to himself:

“Oh, so there are issues of which the Sage has no idea after all!”

The day went by quietly as usual.

But it was in the early hours of the morning that the screams of a young man filtered through the dormitory, which sent jitters down the spines of the sleeping devotees. Lanterns were quickly lit, and in the stillness of the dawn the disturbed devotees could make out the figure of a leaning man whispering to a devotee who was clutching on to his backside.

The words sounded somewhat like this:

…“Now and without an iota of doubt left in your mind, you know the answer to the question you had earlier asked me!”

The mystery figure was holding a pin!