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Zentosh

@zentosh

15 Sep

A Zen Story: The Crystal River
Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river.
The current of the river swept silently over them all -- young and old, rich and poor, compassionate and cruel -- the current going its own way,

knowing only its own crystal self.
Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth.
But one creature said at last,

“I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom."
The other creatures laughed and said,

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Zentosh

@zentosh

14 Sep

A Zen Story: Hoshin’s “Kaa!”

The Zen Master Hoshin lived in China many years. Then he returned to the northeastern part of Japan, where he taught his disciples. When he was getting very old, he told them a story he had heard in China. This is the story:

One year on the twenty-fifth of December, Tokufu, who was very old, said to his disciples: "I am not going to be alive next year so you fellows should treat me well this year."
The pupils thought he was joking, but since he was a great-hearted teacher…

each of them in turn treated him to a feast on succeeding days of the departing year.
On the eve of the new year, Tokufu concluded: "You have been good to me. I shall leave tomorrow afternoon when the snow has stopped."

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Zentosh

@zentosh

4 Sep

A Zen Story: Over the wall

There was an ancient mysterious wall which stood at the edge of a village, and whenever anyone climbed the wall to look onto the other side, instead of coming back he or she smiled and would jump to the other side, never to return.

The inhabitants of the village became curious as to what could draw these people to the other side of the wall. After all, their village had all the necessities of living a comfortable life.
They made an arrangement to where they would tie a person's feet, so that when he or she

looked over and wished to jump, they could be pulled back.
The next time someone tried to climb the wall to see what was on the other side, they chained her feet so that she could not go over. She looked on the other side and was delighted at what she saw, and smiled.

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Zentosh

@zentosh

27 Aug

A Zen Story: The ‘Mind’ Block
The master sculptor surveyed different blocks of marble at the quarry. In his lifetime he learnt that there existed a "suchness" to every piece of stone. Finding that suchness and releasing it to its true life has been the secret for his success.

"Ah-ha," he would say. "There is a heroic figure locked in that piece and a saint trapped inside that other one. But where will I find the stone from which I will sculpt my masterwork, a glorious statue of the Buddha?"

He had been searching for what he called the "Buddha block" for over forty years and now he felt his energies waning. He had traveled to the great quarries of the world: Italy where Michelangelo had mined his stone, Vermont where the stone glowed with light,..

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Zentosh

@zentosh

13 Aug

A Zen Story: Death Surprised
A merchant in Baghdad sent his servant on work to the bazaar and the man came back white with fear and trembling. "Master," he said, "while I was in the marketplace, I walked into a stranger. When I looked him in the face, I found that it was Death.

He made a threatening gesture at me and walked away. Now I am afraid. Please give me a horse so that I can ride at once to Samarra and get far away from Death
The merchant - in his anxiety for the man - gave him his swiftest steed. The servant was on it and away in a trice.

Later in the day the merchant himself went down to the bazaar and saw Death loitering there in the crowd. So he went up to him and said, "You made a threatening gesture at my poor servant this morning. What did it mean?"
"That was no threatening gesture, sir," said Death.

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Zentosh

@zentosh

15 Jul

A Zen Story: Tattoo Inside Your Eyelids

"Tattoo inside your eyelids this reminder:

'you are the messenger, not the message.
You are just like everyone else.' "

This was the advice given by a charismatic Zen teacher to a class of Zen teachers-in-training.

"What do you mean?" they asked her.
"I'll begin with a story about a besieged town that was surrounded by enemies who would slaughter all the inhabitants if help didn't arrive. Just when things looked hopeless, a messenger slipped through enemy lines with the message…

..that the army of the Shogun would attack in the morning and drive off the invaders.
"The townspeople were so enraptured with this news that they treated the messenger like a hero. And after the Shogun's army left, they elected the messenger mayor.

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