Ask Bodhidharma

Dear Bodhidharma,

I am a dedicated zen practitioner who enjoys attending meditation retreats at my local zen center. While I enjoy these retreats, I don’t feel that we spend enough time in silent, seated meditation. So during a work period at the last retreat, I asked the teacher “Why do we spend so much time working? Shouldn’t we spend more time practicing zen?” He laughed so hard that he dropped his rake!

I don’t get it – what was so funny?