burning down the house

This is a story of an abbot who was having some problems with his young monks who had moved into a palace that was donated & being used as their monastery

apparently, the monks were getting affected by the opulence of their new quarters - no matter what reprimands they got, this continued for quite a while

finally the abbot called in a senior monk to fix the problem

the wise & aged sage asked, what is my job? to which the abbot replied - solve the problem

the old monk asked again, what about my scope of authority? to which the abbot replied - full, do whatever it takes

lastly, the monk asked, how long do I have? to which the abbot said - however much is needed to get the problem solved

so the monk left & although the palace/monastery was a few days ride away - he was back almost immediately

this surprised the abbot - who asked the old monk, so did you fix the problem? to which the monk replied, yes

how did you get it done, asked the abbot? to which the monk replied - took a torch & burned it down

.