This, of course, is a distillation of Chan ideals. Extant evidence is that life within Chan monastic communities was conducted in adherence with the disciplining precepts of Buddhist ordination, and that interactions with the lay community were for the most part consistent with prevailing moral and social norms. Chan rhetoric notwithstanding, Chan practice seems to have been more norm-respecting rather than norm-eliding. In keeping with this, when the famous Tang poet, Bo Juyi (772–846) asked Chan master Niaokou (741–824) about the true meaning of Chan, Niaokou responded, “As for doing evil, avoid it; as for the good, practice sharing it”. When Bo Juyi derisively dismissed this as the kind of advice given to three-year-old children, Niaokou didn’t disagree, but simply added that although it was advice that rolled easily off the tongue, it was also advice that most eighty-year-olds failed to put into practice.