Once a monk named Ta-i, bowed to Zen Master Chien-chih, and said, "I beg you in your great compassion to give me the teaching of liberation." Chien-chih replied, "Who is binding you?" The monk said, "No one is binding me." Chien-chih asked, "Then why are you seeking liberation?" With these words the monk was greatly awakened. The teacher's asking "Who is binding you?" led the student to realize that no one was binding him. Therefore, if he was feeling bound it was because he was binding himself. How do you bind yourself?
— Ellen Birx, Healing Zen