When at Demboin, Baso used to sit cross-legged all day and meditating. His master, Nangaku Yejo (Nan-yüeh Huai-jang, 677–744), saw him and asked,[5.8]
“What seekest thou here thus sitting cross-legged?”
“My desire is to become a Buddha.”
Thereupon, the master took up a piece of brick and began to polish it hard on the stone nearby.
“What workest thou on so, my master?” asked Baso.
“I am trying to turn this into a mirror.”
“No amount of polishing will make a mirror of the brick, sir.”
“If so, no amount of sitting cross-legged as thou doest will make of thee a Buddha,” said the master
“What shall I have to do then?”
“It is like driving a cart; when it moveth not, wilt thou whip the cart or the ox?”