Zen masters give personal guidance in a secluded room. No one enters while the teacher and pupil are together.
Moku-Rai, the Zen master of Ken-Nin temple in Kyoto, used to enjoy talking with merchants and newspaper men as well as his pupils. A certain tubmaker also came to see him. The tubmaker was almost illiterate. He would ask foolish questions of Moku-Rai, have tea, and then go away.
One day while the tubmaker was there Moku-Rai wished to give personal guidance to a disciple, so he asked the tubmaker to wait in another room.
"I understand you are a living Buddha," the man protested. "Even the stone Buddhas in the temple never refuse the numerous persons who come together before them. Why then should I be excluded?"
Moku-Rai had to go outside to see his disciple.