Master Qingyuan told disciples an old story:

 

Once there was a monk who obeyed Buddhist precepts for his whole life and was regarded as an eminent monk. One evening, he suddenly stepped on something which produced a “guaji” sound when he was hurrying up on a road.

 

It’s too dark to see what it was. But he thought it was a toad with its stomach full of eggs, which judged by that sound. He was so scared that he stumbled back to his room and fell down to the bed sleeplessly for a long time. When he was sleeping, he found hundreds of toads were shouting and abusing to him. He couldn’t sleep any longer. Therefore, he returned to that place to find that toad. However, he found that it’s an old eggplant, not a toad. He relieved suddenly and didn’t worry any more. “There is nothing among the three realms.” He sighed.

 

After finished the story, Master Qingyuan asked, “What did that monk stepped on? A toad or an eggplant? If it was a toad, it’s an eggplant indeed. If it’s an eggplant, toads asked to repay their lives at night. Can you determine what it was?”