The Codeless Code: Case 46 The Greatest Aspiration 
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 On Monday a novice asked master Banzen: What is the
greatest aspiration?

Banzen replied: to know all that can be known, so that one’s
code may never be improved upon.

On Tuesday another novice asked Banzen: What is the greatest
aspiration?

Banzen replied: to be surrounded always by colleagues whose
knowledge is more extensive, so that one may be in a
continual state of improvement.

On Wednesday a third novice observed that the answers were
mutually exclusive; indeed, they were almost exact
opposites.

Banzen replied: that is so.

The novice, thinking he had the upper hand, then asked
Banzen how one should set about attaining the greatest
aspiration.

Irritated, Banzen replied: on Monday I was asked the
greatest positive number; on Tuesday, the number half its
size. I answered each question in one breath. But if I must
show you how to count to either, the moon will turn to sand
before we have barely begun.

The novice bowed in shame and left.

A gardener—who had been pruning the bonsai tree on Banzen’s
table—confessed that he did not understand how the novice
could be found in error, for the questions on Monday and
Tuesday were indeed identical.

Banzen replied: that bonsai needs water, as does the oak
outside my window.