Case 16: Kyosei and "Picking and Pecking"

A monk asked Kyosei, 
   "I, your student, am picking from inside the shell.
    I beg you, Master, please peck from outside."
Kyosei said, "But will you be alive or not?"
The monk said, "If I were not alive, people would all laugh." 
Kyosei said, "You fool in the weeds!"