• Forgiving your enemies

    The abbot asked his favourite pupil how his spiritual progress was coming along. The pupil answered that he was managing to dedicate to God each and every moment of the day. “Then…

  • The stories of the desert priests

    During the early part of the Christian era, the monastery at Scete became a centre where many people gathered. After renouncing everything they had, they went to live in the desert surrounding…

  • Three Jewish stories

    The shortest constitution in the world A group of wise Jewish men met up in order to try and create the shortest Constitution in the world. If anyone – in the space…

  • The dirty laundry

    A young couple moved into a new neighbourhood. The next morning, while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbour hanging the washing outside. “That laundry is not very clean;…

  • The problems of the others

    There was once a well-known scholar, who lived in a mountain in the Himalayas. Tired of living with men, he had chosen a simple life and spent most of his time meditating.…

  • False harmony

    The monk Chu Lai was beaten by a professor who did not believe anything he said. However, the professor’s wife was a follower of Chu Lai, and demanded that her husband had…

  • One life, many masters

    One of the great Sufi Masters, Junnaid, was dying. His chief disciple came close to him and asked softly, ″Master, you are leaving us. One question has always been in our minds. …

  • The tunnel

    Zenkai, the son of a samurai, journeyed to Edo and there became the retainer of a high official. He fell in love with the official’s wife and was discovered. In self-defence, he…

  • The pointer

    The Zen teacher’s dog loved his evening romp with his master. The dog would bound ahead to fetch a stick, then run back, wag his tail, and wait for the next game.…