A philosopher once visited Buddha and asked him: “Without words, without the wordless, will you tell me the truth?”

Buddha kept silence.

After a while the philosopher rose up gently, made a solemn bow and thanked Buddha saying: “With your loving kindness, I have cleared away all my delusions and entered the true path.”

When the philosopher had left, Ananda, a senior disciple of Buddha, inquired: “O, Blessed one, what hath this philosopher attained?”

Buddha replied: “A good horse runs even at the shadow of the whip!”

— Author unknown (Paul Reps, ed., Zen Flesh, Zen Bones) [via]  <link>