The Chocolate Buddha

“Once there was a Zen monk living in the mountaintops.

A mother from the local village came up to the monk with her son, terribly distraught. “My son won’t stop eating chocolate. Please tell him he must stop.”

The monk told the mother and son to come back in 3 months.

3 months later the mother and son came back. The monk looked into the eyes of the boy and said, “Stop eating so much chocolate.” The boy nodded.

The mother came back some time later, joyous that her son no longer ate excessive amounts of chocolate. “But I must know, why did I have to wait 3 months?” she asked.

“Because,” said the monk, “first “I had to stop eating so much chocolate myself.””