Leave It Outside The Door

An old Zen Master had many disciples, and after morning chanting, they would collect in the auditorium and listen to the lecture given by the Zen Master. When the Zen Master would begin a speech he would always say the following,
“Leave everything outside the Temple door, you cannot bring it in; devote all your body and mind to the Temple, there is no ego, only the Sangha.”
There was a novice monk of one year, still lacking in Buddhist experience, and everyday he listened to the master’s opening. Finally one day he could no longer refrain from asking,
“Master, when we become a monk and arrive at the temple, we have already left all worldly things behind, and do not bring them in. How come every day you repeat that we should leave all outside the Temple?”
Slowly the Master raised his head, and then paused for a long time;
“The mind that leads you to ask this question, this you should leave outside.”