The ancient secret of the monk.

About 35 years ago there was a single man taking a drive down a seeming empty country side. His car began to stall a bit as he turned down the green, mountainous land. When it finally died it just so happened to roll in front of a little monastery.

A monk came out and asked if he needed help. There was no reception anywhere and the nearest station was at least 75 miles so he obliged. The monks took him on and said they could fix his car at no charge but it would take the night. The man was having a midlife crisis so he did not even have a plan for where he was heading. He had quit his job and was just traveling anywhere.

After he barely dozed off to thoughts about what was next in life for him he heard this strange, mesmerizing sound. It started light, but grew to a louder hum that seemed to penetrate his soul. He could feel power coming from the sound and pure beauty. It kept him up all night. The next morning the monks told him his car was fixed and asked if he needed anything else.

"I would like to know what was that sound?" The man asked.

"Sorry I can't tell you because you're not a monk." The head monk replied.

The man shrugged it on and moved on with his life. He ended up getting a small apartment and a boring office job. He never forgot the sound but it gradually became a very faded memory until one fateful day.

The man got a job offer at a bigger firm back across the country and he packed up his car to head back. He was going to be making almost triple what he was and have more perks. he decided to drive the same scenic route from 5 years ago and revisit the colorful countryside.

As his car moved him down the pavement he suddenly heard a familiar sound. The engine echoed a call familiar to five years ago and began to stutter. Fate must have returned him because it broke down in front of the same monastery.

As he lay awake at night, this time not sleeping at all, he let the same strange sound soak into his being. It consumed him, he could not escape it and he knew it brought him back.

The next morning he begged to be told or shown the source of the sound, but was met with the same friction.

"I can't tell you because you are not a monk."

He pleaded, "obviously you weren't always monks if some of you can fix cars like this foreign one. Please tell me how can I become a monk."

The monk could feel the triangular connection between this man, the universe and himself. He decided he was worthy and told him to become one with nature.

The monk gave him to simple tasks for anyone destined to be a one of them, "Travel all the world and become one with yourself and the earth. When you have traveled the world and can tell me the exact number of grains of sand and blades of grass you will be a monk."

The man set out on his journey, forgoing the new job. It took him 30 years but he traveled all of the world and finally understood the answers. He was able to see the numbers because he became on with the world itself. To him it was now like counting fingers. It was simple.

He returns and knocks on the door of the monastery. He says, I have traveled the earth and devoted my life to the task demanded and have found what you had asked for.. There are 371,145,236,284,232 blades of grass and 231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth.

The monk congratulates him and says, "You are now one of us. You are ready for the secret to the sound, the secret of the monk, the secret of the universe."

That night they headed down to a basement where the sound was getting louder and louder with each step. The power was radiating through the man and around him already as he stepped to the wooden door.

"What you seek is behind the door." The monk stated.

The man pulled at the wooden door but it was locked so he asked the monk for a key. The monk already had it in his hand and gave it to him. Behind that door is a door made of stone. The man asked for the key to this one as it was locked as well.

"use your palm, you already know the technique." The man was hesitant but as he had become one with the world he believed and places his palm on the door. The rich sound was vibrating the door to his touch and opened for him.

This continues on through a ruby door, a sapphire door and even more...emerald, silver, topaz, amethyst.

Until finally they reach a door made of diamond. It is suddenly quiet as they stand before the door. The man places his palm on it and nothing happens. The monk tells him to believe and it will open.

As the man closes his eyes and breath deep, remembering the past 30 years something begins to happen. The sound returns, humming low at first. It is as if the sound is intertwined into the gleaming beams of light reflecting off the diamond door.

The sound now surround him, it floods out as the doors burst open. He open his eyes and is astonished. Here is the most astonishing, beautiful thing in all of the universe. Tears form in his eyes but are swept away in the radiance of the light and sound. He can't believe what he just saw.

I just can't tell you what it was because you're not a monk.