The monks...?

Question

A man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery.
He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car
broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?"
The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, and even fix
his car. As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange
sound. The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was,
but they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."
The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes about
his merry way. Some years later, the same man breaks down in
front of the same monastery.
The monks gain accept him, feed him, and even fix his car. That
night, he hears the same strange noise that he had heard years
earlier. The next morning, he asks what it is, but the monks
reply, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."

The man says, "All right, all right. I'm dying to know. If the
only way I can find out what that sound was, is to become a
monk, how do I become a monk?"
The monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us how
many blades of grass there are and the exact number of sand
pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will become a monk."
The man sets about his task. Some forty-five years later, he
returns and knocks on the door of the monastery. He says, "I
have traveled the earth and have found what you have asked for.
There are 145,236,284,232 blades of grass and
231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth."
The monks reply, "Congratulations. You are now a monk. We
shall now show you the way to the sound."
The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk
says, "The sound is right behind that door."
The man reaches for the knob, but the door is locked. He says,
"May I have the key?"

The monks give him the key, and he opens the door.
Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone. The man
asks for the key to the stone door. The monks give him the key,
and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby. He gets
another key from the monks. Behind that door is another door,
this one made of sapphire. So it went until the man had gone
through doors of emerald, silver, topaz and diamond.
Finally, the monks say, "This is the last key to the last door."
The man is relieved to no end. He unlocks the door, turns the
knob, and behind that door he is utterly astonished to find the
source of that beguiling sound...But I can't tell you what it
is because you're not a monk.

Answer 1

Argh... thats frustrating!! =)

Answer 2

There will be a mass suicide, as others have explained. However, I'd like to mention a different point of view. Before the unfortunate remark of the tourist, everyone knows that there are at least 99 red-eyed monks, because they can see all the others. If there were only 99 red-eyed monks, each of them could see the 98 others. By this kind of reasoning: Everyone knows that there are at least 99 red-eyed monks. Everyone knows that everyone knows that there are at least 98 red-eyed monks. Everyone knows that everyone knows that everyone knows that there are at least 97 red-eyed monks. Continuing this way, we can deduce that everyone knows that everyone knows that everyone knows that (...etc..) everyone knows that there is at least one red-eyed monk, where "everyone knows that" repeats 99 times. However, before the tourist, it's not the case that everyone knows that everyone knows that everyone knows that (...etc...) everyone knows that there is at least one red-eyed monk, where "everyone knows that" repeats 100 times. That is the extra information that the monks gain. The puzzle should mention that the tourist makes his remark when all the monks are gathered around him. Edited to add: On second thoughts, I realize that both arguments are valid, given suitable extra assumptions not stated in the question. If there is, say, a public meeting where the monks unanimously decide to burn the visitor at stake for even unwittingly breaking the rule, then it can be reasonably argued that the extra information, as described above, has been gained. However, the puzzle, as presented here, doesn't describe the circumstances surrounding the tourist's unfortunate remark at all, even though the extra information cannot be gained from the remark itself, but only from the situation. If, for instance, the remark is heard only by a few monks standing by, argument 1 is certainly valid. Even if the visitor mentions the red-eyed monk in a public address, how does someone sitting in front know that nobody far behind him wasn't distracted by a cramp or a mosquito or whatever just at the crucial moment? In fact, given the formulation of the puzzle in the question, I now find argument 1 more plausible, since argument 2 depends on a very peculiar unstated assumption. Of course, the puzzle isn't particularly interesting unless the necessary conditions for argument 2 hold, so the formulation should be corrected.

Answer 3

ah shoot. LOL! well, i wanna know, can't leave me wondering like this. they said the only way to become a monk is to find the number of blades of grass and pebbles of sand and travel the world. so, i traveled the globe and here is this the answer: 145,236,284,232 blades of grass and
231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth.

can i know now?

Answer 4

ok there are 145,236,284,232 blades of grass and
231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth.
now that I'm a Monk, tell me what that darn noise was.

Answer 5

Fortunately a monk told me the rest of the joke....

The monk was astonished to see that a set of enchanted keys were making the noise, the very same keys that opened the doors!

Suddenly they began to sing...

HEY HEY WE'RE THE MONK KEYS!

Answer 6

What Can i do to become i monk over the internet Jk LOL

Answer 7

see now i read your joke and didnt find it funny but when i read the one about the keys making the sounds and the monkeys it was a nice funny finish to the joke

Answer 8

Ha Ha! Funny! 10!

Answer 9

ohhh damn it :(
hehehe that is pretty funny and i wasnt expecting that ending
star for you

Answer 10

u bastard! LOLgod!dat wuz hilarious.