Zen Stories

[Gracie]

Once there was a monk who specialized in the Buddhist precepts, and he kept to them all his life. Once when he was walking at night, he stepped on something. It made a squishing sound, and he imagined he had stepped on an egg-bearing frog.
This caused him no end of alarm and regret, in view of the Buddhist precept against taking life, and when he finally went to sleep that night he dreamed that hundreds of frogs came demanding his life.
The monk was terribly upset, but when morning came he looked and found that what he stepped on was an overripe eggplant. At that moment his feeling of uncertainty suddenly stopped, and for the first time he realized the meaning of the saying that “there is no objective world.” Then he finally knew how to practice Zen.

 

[Gracie]

An aged monk, who had lived a long and active life, was assigned a chaplain’s role at an academy for girls. In discussion groups he often found that the subject of love became a central topic. This comprised his warning to the young women:
“Understand the danger of anything-too-much in your lives. Too much anger in combat can lead to recklessness and death. Too much ardor in religious beliefs can lead to close-mindedness and persecution.
Too much passion in love creates dream images of the beloved – images that ultimately prove false and generate anger. To love too much is to lick honey from the point of a knife.”
“But as a celibate monk,” asked one young woman, “how can you know of love between a man and a woman?”
“Sometime, dear children,” replied the old teacher, “I will tell you why I became a monk.”

 

[Gracie]

A university student while visiting Gasan asked him: “Have you ever read the Christian Bible?”
“No, read it to me,” said Gasan.
The student opened the Bible and read from St. Matthew: “And why take ye thought for rainment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these… Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”
Gasan said: “Whoever uttered those words I consider an enlightened man.”
The student continued reading: “Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.”
Gasan remarked: “That is excellent. Whoever said that is not far from Buddhahood.”

 

[Gracie]

A certain Zen teacher celebrated with his students, drinking sake and whiskey until after midnight, then rose next morning before dawn. Peevish, he expressed annoyance that his American students had not risen in time to do zazen [Zen meditation] before morning service.
When they murmured that their sluggishness might be accounted for by all the drink, the teacher snapped, “Sake is one thing, and zazen is another! They have nothing to do with each other!”

 

[Gracie]

A hermit was meditating by a river when a young man interrupted him.
“Master, I wish to become your disciple,” said the man.
“Why?” replied the hermit.
The young man thought for a moment.
“Because I want to find God.”
The master jumped up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragged him into the river, and plunged his head under water.
After holding him there for a minute, with him kicking and struggling to free himself, the master finally pulled him up out of the river. The young man coughed up water and gasped to get his breath. When he eventually quieted down, the master spoke.
“Tell me, what did you want most of all when you were under water.”
“Air!” answered the man.
“Very well,” said the master.
“Go home and come back to me when you want God as much as you just wanted air.”

 

[Gracie]

And now it is time for a short break from the craziness of USMB

Truth

One day, according to an Eastern story, the gods decided to create the universe. They created the stars, the sun, the moon. They created the seas, the mountains, the flowers, and the clouds. Then they created human beings.

At the end, they created Truth.

At this point, however, a problem arose: where should they hide Truth so that human beings would not find it right away?
They wanted to prolong the adventure of the search.
''Let's put Truth on top of the highest mountain'', said one of the gods,
''Certainly it will be hard to find it there''.
''Les's put it on the farthest star'' - said another.
''Let's hide it in the darkest and deepest of abysses''.
At the end, the wisest and most ancient god said - ''No, we will hide Truth inside the very heart of human beings. In this way they will look for it all over the Universe, without being aware of having it inside themselves all the time''.

- from 'What we may be' by Piero Ferrucci

 

[Gracie]

Interview With God

'Come in', God said, 'So you would like to interview Me?'
'If you have the time' - I said.
God smiled and said
'My time is eternity and is enough to do everything;
what questions do you have in mind to ask me?'

'What surprises you most about mankind?' - I asked.
God answered:
'That they get bored with being children; are in rush to grow up,
and then long to be children again.
That they lose their health to make money
and then lose their money to restore their health.
That by thinking anxiously about their future,
they forget the present, such that they live neither
for the present nor for the future.
That they live as if they will never die,
and die as if they had never lived...'

God's hands shook and we were silent for a while.
Then I asked - 'As a parent, what are some of life's
lessons you want your children to learn?'

God replied with a smile,
'To learn that they cannot make anyone love them,
what they can do is to let themselves be loved.
To learn that what is most valuable is not
what they have in their lives,
but how they have in their lives.
To learn that it is not good to compare
themselves to others....

To learn that a rich person, is not the one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.
To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open
profound wounds in person we love
and that it takes many years to heal them.

To learn that there are people who love them dearly,
but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings.
To learn that money can buy everything but happiness.
to learn that two people can look at the same thing
and see it totally differently.
To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything
about them...and likes them anyway.
To learn that it is not always enough that
they be forgiven by others,
but that they have to forgive themselves'

People will forget what you said,
People will forget what you did,
But people will never forget
How you made them feel.

- Unknown

 

[Gracie]

A story tells that two friends were walking through
the desert. During some point of the journey, they
had an argument, and one friend slapped the other
one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt,
but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand:

Today my best friend slapped me in the face.

They kept on walking, until they found an oasis,
where they decided to take a bath. The one who had
been slapped got stuck in the mire and started
drowning, but his friend saved him.
After he recovered from the near drowning,
he wrote on a stone:

Today my best friend saved my life.

The friend, who had slapped and saved his best
friend, asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in
the sand, and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us,
we should write it down in sand, where the winds of
forgiveness can erase it away, but when someone
does something good for us, we must engrave it in
stone where no wind can ever erase it.

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve
your blessings in stone.

-- Unknown

 

[Pogo]

Interview With God

'Come in', God said, 'So you would like to interview Me?'
'If you have the time' - I said.
God smiled and said
'My time is eternity and is enough to do everything;
what questions do you have in mind to ask me?'

'What surprises you most about mankind?' - I asked.
God answered:
'That they get bored with being children; are in rush to grow up,
and then long to be children again.
That they lose their health to make money
and then lose their money to restore their health.
That by thinking anxiously about their future,
they forget the present, such that they live neither
for the present nor for the future.
That they live as if they will never die,
and die as if they had never lived...'

God's hands shook and we were silent for a while.
Then I asked - 'As a parent, what are some of life's
lessons you want your children to learn?'

God replied with a smile,
'To learn that they cannot make anyone love them,
what they can do is to let themselves be loved.
To learn that what is most valuable is not
what they have in their lives,
but how they have in their lives.
To learn that it is not good to compare
themselves to others....

To learn that a rich person, is not the one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.
To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open
profound wounds in person we love
and that it takes many years to heal them.

To learn that there are people who love them dearly,
but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings.
To learn that money can buy everything but happiness.
to learn that two people can look at the same thing
and see it totally differently.
To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything
about them...and likes them anyway.
To learn that it is not always enough that
they be forgiven by others,
but that they have to forgive themselves'

People will forget what you said,
People will forget what you did,
But people will never forget
How you made them feel.

- Unknown

I love those last four lines.

 

[Gracie]

From a galaxy far away from this one, I met a man who has been an online friend for many many years although I had never met him face to face. He posted something along the lines of the following, but it is not word for word about me in a thread. He was a very wise man with a very old soul. Hell, he should have been a Zen Master in my opinion. But he was not. Just a man, now sadly deceased. One who saw with his heart and shared his opinion of me. What he shared was this:



Gracie is like an old loner lioness with battle scars but still has a great heart. You want to pet her, feel her soft fur, hug her head next to your breast and tell her how much you appreciate her. But you can only do it on rare occassions when she lets you get that close. She can and will bite. But then she will lick your wounds with sorrow that she hurt you when all she really wanted was to feel your presence but not the intrusion into her space. You got too close. Her battle scars did not come from the enemy. They came from people she thought would not harm her, but did. So yes, you can pet Gracie. Just make sure you move away when her tail begins to twitch. She is like a cat and we all know the signs of cats, do we not?"

 

[Gracie]

Carry It Out

A monk once asked Joshu “If I have nothing in my mind, what should I do?”

“Throw it out.” Replied Joshu.

“But if there is nothing in my mind how can I throw it out?”

“Then,” said Joshu, “you will have to carry it out.”

 

[Gracie]

A saint who visited the river Ganges to take a bath, came across a group of family members who were shouting at each other in anger.

The saint turned to his diciples with a smile, "Why do people who are angry shout at each other?"

After a little while one diciple said, "Because we lose our calm. Then we shout."

"But why do you shout when the other person is right next to you? You can say what you have to say in a much softer manner," said the saint.

None of the diciples could give a good response. Then the saint decided to explain it.
"When two people are angry at each other, their hearts get further apart. To cover that distance, they have to shout to each other to be able to hear each other, and reach out. The angrier they get, the louder they must shout to be heard from such a great distance."

He then smiled, before he asked the diciples a new question,
"When two people fall in love, what happens? They talk softly to each other. Why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small.."

He concluded, "When two people's love grow even stronger, they only whisper because their hearts are so close. In the end the love is so strong that they only need to look at each other. That is all."

 

[Gracie]

An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining and so, one morning, sent him for some salt.When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.
“How does it taste?” the master asked.

“Bitter,” spit the apprentice.

The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake.

The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”

As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?”

“Fresh,” remarked the apprentice.

“Do you taste the salt?” asked the master.

“No,” said the young man.

At this the master sat beside this serious young man, who so reminded him of himself, and took his hands, offering:

“The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”

 

[Gracie]

Break is over. More soon.

 

[Gracie]

When the Tesshu, a master of Zen, calligraphy and swordsmanship, was a young man he called on the Zen master Dokuon. Wishing to impress Dokuon he said, “The mind, the Buddha, and all sentient beings after all do not exist. The true nature of phenomenon is emptiness. There is no realisation, no delusion, no sagacity, no mediocrity, nothing to give and nothing to receive.

Dokuon promptly hit him with a bamboo stick. Tesshu became quite furious.

Dokuon said quietly: “If nothing exists, where did this anger come from?”

 

[Gracie]

As the sun rose, a dew drop became aware of its surroundings. There it sat on a leaf, catching the sunlight and throwing it back out. Proud of its simple beauty, it was very content. Around it were other dew drops, some on the same leaf and some on other leaves round about. The dew drop was sure that it was the best, the most special dew drop of them all.

Ah, it was good to be a dew drop.

The wind rose and the plant began to shake, tipping the leaf. Terror gripped the dew drop as gravity pulled it towards the edge of the leaf, towards the unknown. Why? Why was this happening? Things were comfortable. Things were safe. Why did they have to change? Why? Why?

The dew drop reached the edge of the leaf. It was terrified, certain that it would be smashed into a thousand pieces below, sure that this was the end. The day had only just begun and the end had come so quickly. It seemed so unfair. It seemed so meaningless. It tried desperately to do whatever it could to cling to the leaf, but it was no use.

Finally, it let go, surrendering to the pull of gravity. Down, down it fell. Below there seemed to be a mirror. A reflection of itself seemed to be coming up to meet the dew drop. Closer and closer they came together until finally...

And then the fear transformed into deep joy as the tiny dew drop merged with the vastness that was the pond. Now the dew drop was no more, but it was not destroyed.

It had become one with the whole.
Author~Peter Hughes

 

[Gracie]

Not zen...but maybe it IS, since I think it all coincides in some way or another.

When Christ said that man does not live by bread alone, he spoke of a hunger. This hunger was not the hunger of the body. It was not the hunger for bread. He spoke of a hunger that begins deep down in the very depths of our being. He spoke of a need as vital as breath. He spoke of our hunger for love.

Love is something you and I must have. We must have it because our spirit feeds upon it. We must have it because without it we become weak and faint. Without love our self-esteem weakens. Without it our courage fails. Without love we can no longer look out confidently at the world...

But with love, we are creative. With it, we march tirelessly. With it, and with it alone, we are able to sacrifice for others.

Chief Dan George


One thing to remember is to talk to the animals. If you do, they will talk back to you. But if you don't talk to the animals, they won't talk back to you, then you won't understand, and when you don't understand you will fear and when you fear you will destroy the animals, and if you destroy the animals, you will destroy yourself.

Chief Dan George

 

[Gracie]

Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux


Grandfather Cries by Charles Phillip Whitedog


Grandfather, do you know me?I am your blood.The son of your son.I come to ask you a question Grandfather.
Grandfather, don't you know me?
Can I stop being Indian now?There are others that want to be Indian,And if they can start from nothing,I should be able to stop from something?
Grandfather, don't you know me?
Grandfather, I don't look like you.I don't know what you know.It would be easy for me to hide behind my paler skin.No one would know the pain I feel,Or see the tears I cry for your Great Grandchildren.
Grandfather, don't you know me?
Grandfather, look what I have done to our world.Mother Earth is on her knees.The Snake and Owl rule the day.I don't understand the language you speak Grandfather.
Grandfather, don't you know me?
Grandfather, I want my Pepsi, Levi's and Porsche too.I want to go where the others go,And see the things they see too.I don't have time to dance in the old way Grandfather.
Grandfather?
Grandfather, why are you crying?Grandfather, why are you crying?Grandfather, please stop crying.Grandfather, don't you know me?

 

[Gracie]

Once upon a time, there was a pretty, pure and versatile damsel from an aristocratic family.
She had a graceful name – Huimei.
Her virtue made many magnates queue up for marriage proposals.
She deeply believed her prince charming was on the way.
Hence, she turned them all down.
Huimei had a glimpse of a young man at a very crowded fete one day.
Thought Huimei to herself, he was the one that she had waited for, for a very long time.
She was unable to approach him in a sea of people and let him vanish helplessly.
Huimei had sought for that man everywhere, but he evaporated like a drop of water.
All she could do was only pray to Buddha everyday.
Her sincerity affected Buddha at last.

Buddha, ‘ Do you really want to see that man again ?’
Huimei, ‘ Yes, I really want to see him once again.’
Buddha, ‘ But, you will have to give up everything including your lovely family and your happy life. Will you?’
Huimei, ‘ Yes, I will.’
Buddha, ‘ You will also have to practice for five hundred years. Then, you will only see him for one time. Will you?’
Huimei, ‘ Yes, I will. And I won’t regret at all !’
Buddha turned her into a big stone, which was set on an uninhabited land.
She suffered from the windblown and sunburned day after day.
The worst was she never saw one person pass by after some four hundred years.
The hopelessness drove her to the edge of insanity.
But a team of quarrymen found her at the final year.
They moved and cut her into several pieces to build a stone bridge’s guardrail in town.
As the bridge was completed, Huimei saw the man whom she had already awaited for the last five hundred years.
He walked through the bridge in a great hurry and vanished in the crowd once again.

Buddha appeared then and asked ‘ Are you satisfied now?’
Huimei, ‘ No, why am I only be the bridge’s guardrail?
If I were paved on the center of the bridge, I could have had a touch with him at least!’
Buddha, ‘So, you have to practice for another five hundred years.’
Huimei, ‘ Yes, I’m willing.’
Buddha, ‘ You have been suffering for so much already. Don’t you have a bit of regret?’
Huimei, ‘ No, I don’t regret at all!’
So Buddha had turned her into a big tree, which stood in a street bustling with life.
Watching the people walked back and forth day by day made her more miserable.
The more expectant she was to see that man for just once again,
the more disappointed she got.
If not for the previous five hundred years of practice, Huimei surely would have collapsed long ago.
She calmed down gradually as the time passed by because
She understood he would come at the very last day.


There he came finally!

He wore his favorite white gown which he liked the most.
His face was the same...delicate and handsome.
Huimei gazed at him infatuatedly.
He did not rush in a hurry that time.
He focused on a big shade tree standing alone.
A very attractive tree with dense shades, he went toward it.
He decided to take a break due to the intense heat of the midday sun.
He had leaned against her side.
Huimei got to feel him as he leaned against her.
However, she could not tell him about her yearning for a millennium.
There was nothing more she could do, except
gather her leaves and shade to shelter him from the sinister sunlight.

After taking a bried nap, he showed his thankfulness by stroking and beaming at the beautiful tree. He then left without a backward glance, fresh from the heat and the nap.


Buddha appeared again.
Buddha, ‘ Do you still want to be his wife? Thus, you must practice…….’
Huimei interrupted tranquilly, ‘ Yes, I do long for…… But, I think it is not necessary.’
Buddha, ‘ Ah?!’
Huimei, ‘ This has been very good already. I do love him. It doesn’t mean I have to be his wife.’
Buddha, ‘ Ah?!’
Huimei, ‘ Does his present wife suffer the hardship same as I do?’
Buddha nodded slightly.
Huimei beamed , ‘ I can continue. But, it is not necessary anymore.’
Buddha had a sigh of relief.
She was curious about his response and asked, ‘ Is there something worrying you?’
Buddha smiled, ‘This will be great ! One young man needs not to wait for another millennium.
He had already practiced for two millennia just because he wanted to take a look at you.’

 

[Gracie]

Once on an island far, far to the east-or maybe to the west-there were three brothers. In those days, everyone on that island lived in caves. But the three brothers were not happy about it.

"Why must we live in a cave?" the oldest asked their mother.

"It is because of the Earthquake God," she told them. "If we built a house, he would come to wreck it."

"What if we built a house he couldn't wreck?" said the middle brother.

"No one knows how," said their mother.

"Then we should try and find out," said the youngest.

The brothers all agreed they should build such a house, but they could not agree how. So each set off to the valley to build one of his own.

The oldest brother built his house from stone and mortar. He told himself, "It is as strong as a mountain."

The middle brother built his house from wood and pegs. He said, "It is as strong as a tree."

The youngest brother built his house from bamboo and cord. He said, "It is as strong as the grass."

One day, the Earthquake God came down the mountain. On legs like pillars, he strode up to the oldest brother's house of stone.

"So!" he said. "They try to build houses, do they?"

The Earthquake God stamped his feet. And as he stamped, he shouted,

"EARTH SHAKE!
HOUSE BREAK!"

The earth shook and the house shivered. The mortar cracked and the stones fell down. The Earthquake God laughed.

Somehow, the oldest brother got out safely and ran to his brother's house of wood. But it was not long before the Earthquake God arrived.

"Another one! Well, this one won't last any longer." He stamped his feet and shouted,

"EARTH SHAKE!
HOUSE BREAK!"

The earth shook and the house shuddered. The pegs snapped and the walls leaned over. The Earthquake God laughed.

The two brothers got out quickly and ran to their brother's house of bamboo. But soon the Earthquake God arrived there too.

"Still another! But this one looks weakest of all!" He stamped and shouted,

"EARTH SHAKE!
HOUSE BREAK!"

The earth shook and the house swayed. The cord strained and the bamboo wobbled-but then it sprang back straight!

The Earthquake God frowned. He stamped harder, then harder still. But nothing he did could wreck the bamboo house.

At last, in a fury, he stamped back up the mountain.

The brothers were happy to see him go. But the oldest asked the youngest, "Why did your house stand when ours did not?" And the middle brother said, "Yes, why?"

The youngest brother answered, "You tried to make your houses stronger than the Earthquake God. But I made mine weaker. Whatever bends does not break."

And that is why, forever after, everyone on that island built their houses from bamboo.