Okay… so there were these ten friends. Way back in the land of Zen, a long time ago, before cars or anything like that. They decided to go on a journey. So they got everything they needed and off they went.
They are walking along and they come up to this big river. The only way to get across was to swim, so they all jump in and swim across to the other side. They gather together, on the other side, and started to get ready to get going again.
One of them says, “You know. We should probably make sure that everyone made it across.”
Everyone agrees. “Yeah. Really good idea. Let’s count ourselves.”
So they got in a circle and the one guy started counting everybody in the circle. He starts with the guy to his left. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.” And ends with the guy to his right. “nine.”
He gasps, “Oh my gosh! one person is missing! There are only nine!”
His friend standing next to him says, “It doesn’t really look like anybody’s missing. You must have done it wrong. Let me do it.” So he starts counting with the guy next to him and goes around the circle. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.”
Then he exclaims, “Oh no! Someone’s missing!
They all start crying. “Who is it? Our friend is missing. Probably drowned in the river.”
Then a Zen monk comes walking up. He asks, “What’s the problem.”
They sobbed, “Our friend died crossing the river and we’re so upset. When we started out there were ten of us, and now there are only nine.” The monk looks at him and says, “What? Are you sure.”
So they showed him how they were counting around the circle.
The monk says, “Let’s start again.” He counts around the circle. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,” Then without stopping the monk takes his finger and pushes it against his chest. “Ten. Look you’re all here.”
The man had forgotten to count himself.