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HAS MET COMPLETE DEFEAT."
What does he mean by this? The monk is saying, "You have been found being unsuccessful. Your shout missed."
THE MONK COMMENTED: "THE THIEF IN THE GRASS HAS MET COMPLETE DEFEAT."
"WHAT IS MY OFFENSE?" RINZAI ASKED.
THE MONK REPLIED, "IT WON'T BE PARDONED A SECOND TIME."
The monk is saying, "Your shout missed." He is not saying that shouting at him a second time will not be pardoned; he is saying, "Your being a failure will not be pardoned -- IT WON'T BE PARDONED A SECOND TIME. The first time I forgive you; you missed, you did not reach to my center. I bowed down because you tried, you tried hard. But the second time it will not be pardoned."
Anybody reading it will think that he is saying, "If you shout a second time it will not be pardoned." That is not the case. He is saying, "Your failure will not be pardoned a second time."
RINZAI GAVE A SHOUT -- and the anecdote ends suddenly. After the shout there is silence. The second shout succeeded. Now the monk is silent, Rinzai is silent.
There have been long progressions for reaching to yourself, like yoga. But devices like Rinzai's are very simple, don't require any discipline as a prerequisite. Anybody... no need of having a certain character; good or bad, sinner or saint, it does not matter. What matters is to reach to the center, because at the center you are neither a sinner nor a saint. Your being a sinner or a saint are all on the periphery. Our whole society lives on the periphery; all our divisions are very superficial.
I am reminded of a great follower of Buddha, Nagarjuna. He lived naked. Perhaps Nagarjuna is the greatest logician that has walked on the earth. Aristotle is no comparison to him, neither is Shankara; Nagarjuna's argumentation is the most refined. But he used to live naked -- a beautiful man -- and even kings and queens were disciples to him. In a certain capital the queen was his disciple. She asked him, "You will have to give me a favor. I want to take away your begging bowl."
He said, "That is not a problem. You can have it."
She said, "That is only half of it. I have prepared a begging bowl
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