Pumpkin Monk. [Photo/dangdang.com]

Pumpkin Monk

In a not very brightly-colored painting style, this picture book centers on an amusing Zen Buddhist story. An elderly monk grows a pumpkin that keeps on growing and occupies almost the whole temple. Without enough space to stay, the other 99 young monks decide to use the pumpkin vines to bind the old monk and flee from the monastery. After running along the pumpkin vines for a long time, the young monks finally see the light at the end of tunnel. But at the same time, they surprisingly find themselves actually coming from that pumpkin, rather than the temple.

The story might need you to interpret it while reading.