THE MASTER Gutei made a practice of raising his finger whenever he
explained a question about Zen. A very young disciple began to
imitate him, and every time Gutei raised his finger when he
preached, this boy would raise his finger too. Everybody laughed.

One day Gutei caught him at it. He took the boy's hand, whipped
out a knife, cut off the finger and threw it away. The boy walked
off howling.

"Stop!" shouted Gutei. The boy stopped, and looked at the master
through his tears. Gutei raised his finger. The boy raised his
finger. Then suddenly he realized it wasn't there. He hesitated a
moment:

Then he bowed.