A disciple of a Zen Master was meditating for twenty years. Again and again he would bring his experiences, and the Master would throw him out saying, “This is all rubbish! Go…
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Try to pick it up
A Zen Master dropped his handkerchief and said to one of his disciples who was just sitting there, “Try to pick up the handkerchief. Try to pick it up.” Immediately the disciple…
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Which is worthless in life?
Once it happened that Buddha asked one of his disciples, “Can you find anything which is worthless in life? If you can, then bring it.” The disciple thought for many days and…
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The real and the ideal
When a Zen master was weeping at the funeral of his favourite disciple, a young monk who saw him took him to task, saying, “I would have thought that you were beyond…
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‘Put your hands on the top of your heads’
I have come across a very beautiful Zen story. Listen to it attentively; it is your story. Behind a temple there was a field where a lot of squashes (vegetables of the…
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The eight winds
The Buddhists say there are eight winds. They are gain and loss, praise and ridicule, credit and blame, and suffering and joy. If you aren’t aware of them, they will blow you…
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Praying for everyone
A farm labourer with a sick wife asked a Buddhist monk to say a series of prayers. The priest began to pray, asking God to cure all those who were ill. “Just…
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The difference between pain and suffering
There is a Buddhist teaching that says that when you get hurt, say, by an arrow, that is pain. The arrow hitting your arm, it hurts. Pain. However, there is a second…
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Buddha with a black nose
This is a famous story about a Zen nun. She had a beautiful golden Buddha, a very artistic, aesthetic statue of Buddha, made of pure gold. And the nun used to carry…
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The first principle
When one goes to Obaku temple in Kyoto, one can see carved over the gate the words “The First Principle.” The letters are unusually large, and those who appreciate calligraphy always admire them as…