A Zen master lived the simplest life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain.

One evening, a thief visited the hut and discovered there was nothing in it to steal.

The master returned and caught him.

“You may have come a long way to visit me,” he told the thief, “and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.”

The thief was bewildered.

He took the clothes and went away.

The master sat naked, watching the moon.

“Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.”