Zen Buddhism Stories

8/3/2019 Zen Buddhism Stories

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1. A Cup of Tea

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor

who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitors cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull.

No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I

show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

2. The Burden

Two monks were returning to the monastery in the evening. It had rained and there were

puddles of water on the road sides. At one place a beautiful young woman was standing

unable to walk accross because of a puddle of water. The elder of the two monks went up to

a her lifted her and left her on the other side of the road, and continued his way to the

monastery.

In the evening the younger monk came to the elder monk and said, "Sir, as monks, we

cannot touch a woman ?"

The elder monk answered "yes, brother".

Then the younger monk asks again, "but then Sir, how is that you lifted that woman on the

roadside ?"

The elder monk smiled at him and told him " I left her on the other side of the road, but you

are still carrying her."

3. Finding a Piece of the Truth

One day Mara, the Evil One, was travelling through the villages of India with his attendants.

he saw a man doing walking meditation whose face was lit up on wonder. The man had justdiscovered something on the ground in front of him. Maras attendant asked what that was

and Mara replied, "A piece of truth."

"Doesnt this bother you when someone finds a piece of truth, O Evil One?" his attendant

asked. "No," Mara replied. "Right after this, they usually make a belief out of it."


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The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. How

wonderful, the neighbors exclaimed.

Maybe, replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke

his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

Maybe, answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing

that the sons leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer

on how well things had turned out.

Maybe, said the farmer.

7. Cliffhanger

One day while walking through the wilderness a man stumbled upon a vicious tiger. He ran

but soon came to the edge of a high cliff. Desperate to save himself, he climbed down a vine

and dangled over the fatal precipice.

As he hung there, two mice appeared from a hole in the cliff and began gnawing on the vine.

Suddenly, he noticed on the vine a plump wild strawberry. He plucked it and popped it in

his mouth. It was incredibly delicious!

8. The Blind Men and the Elephant

Several citizens ran into a hot argument about God and different religions, and each one

could not agree to a common answer. So they came to the Lord Buddha to find out what

exactly God looks like.

The Buddha asked his disciples to get a large magnificent elephant and four blind men. He

then brought the four blind to the elephant and told them to find out what the elephantwould "look" like.

The first blind men touched the elephant leg and reported that it "looked" like a pillar. The

second blind man touched the elephant tummy and said that an elephant was a wall. The

third blind man touched the elephant ear and said that it was a piece of cloth. The fourth


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blind man hold on to the tail and described the elephant as a piece of rope. And all of them

ran into a hot argument about the "appearance" of an elephant.

The Buddha asked the citizens: "Each blind man had touched the elephant but each of them

gives a different description of the animal. Which answer is right?"

9. Right and Wrong

When Bankei held his seclusion-weeks of meditation, pupils from many parts of Japan came

to attend. During one of these gatherings a pupil was caught stealing. The matter was

reported to Bankei with the request that the culprit be expelled. Bankei ignored the case.

Later the pupil was caught in a similar act, and again Bankei disregarded the matter. This

angered the other pupils, who drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief, stating

that otherwise they would leave in a body.

When Bankei had read the petition he called everyone before him. "You are wise brothers,"

he told them. "You know what is right and what is not right. You may go somewhere else to

study if you wish, but this poor brother does not even know right from wrong. Who will

teach him if I do not? I am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you leave."

A torrent of tears cleansed the face of the brother who had stolen. All desire to steal had

vanished.

10. Nothing ExistsYamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called

upon Dokuon of Shokoku.

Desiring to show his attainment, he said: "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all,

do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no

delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received."

Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his

bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.

"If nothing exists," inquired Dokuon, "where did this anger come from?"

11. Teaching the Ultimate

In early times in Japan, bamboo-and-paper lanterns were used with candles inside. A blind

man, visiting a friend one night, was offered a lantern to carry home with him.


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"I do not need a lantern," he said. "Darkness or light is all the same to me."

"I know you do not need a lantern to find your way," his friend replied, "but if you dont

have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it."

The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran

squarely into him. "Look out where you are going!" he exclaimed to the stranger. "Cant you

see this lantern?"

"Your candle has burned out, brother," replied the stranger.

12. The Gift of InsultsThere once lived a great warrior. Though quite old, he still was able to defeat any challenger.

His reputation extended far and wide throughout the land and many students gathered to

study under him.

One day an infamous young warrior arrived at the village. He was determined to be the first

man to defeat the great master. Along with his strength, he had an uncanny ability to spot

and exploit any weakness in an opponent. He would wait for his opponent to make the first

move, thus revealing a weakness, and then would strike with merciless force and lightning

speed. No one had ever lasted with him in a match beyond the first move.

Much against the advice of his concerned students, the old master gladly accepted the young

warrior's challenge. As the two squared off for battle, the young warrior began to hurlinsults at the old master. He threw dirt and spit in his face. For hours he verbally assaulted

him with every curse and insult known to mankind. But the old warrior merely stood there

motionless and calm. Finally, the young warrior exhausted himself. Knowing he was

defeated, he left feeling shamed.

Somewhat disappointed that he did not fight the insolent youth, the students gathered

around the old master and questioned him. "How could you endure such an indignity? How

did you drive him away?"

"If someone comes to give you a gift and you do not receive it," the master replied, "to whom

does the gift belong?"


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13. Working Very HardA martial arts student went to his teacher and said earnestly, "I am devoted to studying your

martial system. How long will it take me to master it." The teacher's reply was casual, "Ten

years." Impatiently, the student answered, "But I want to master it faster than that. I will

work very hard. I will practice everyday, ten or more hours a day if I have to. How long will

it take then?" The teacher thought for a moment, "20 years."

14. The lost son (Clinging to opinions)"A young widower, who loved his five year old son very much, was away on business when

bandits came who burned down the whole village and took his son away. When the man

returned, he saw the ruins and panicked. They took the burnt corpse of an infant to be his

son and cried uncontrollably. He organized a cremation ceremony, collected the ashes and

put them in a beautiful little bag which he always kept with him.

Soon afterwards, his real son escaped from the bandits and found his way home. He arrivedat his father's new cottage at midnight and knocked at the door. The father, still grieving

asked: "Who is it?" The child answered, it is me papa, open the door!" But in his agitated

state of mind, convinced his son was dead, the father thought that some young boy was

making fun of him. He shouted: "Go away" and continued to cry. After some time, the child

left.

Father and son never saw each other again."

After this story, the Buddha said: "Sometime, somewhere, you take something to be the

truth. If you cling to it so much, even when the truth comes in person and knocks on your

door, you will not open it."

15. Not the Wind, Not the Flag

Two monks were arguing about the temple flag waving in the wind. One said, "The flag

moves." The other said, "The wind moves." They argued back and forth but could not agree.

The Sixth Ancestor said, "Gentlemen! It is not the wind that moves; it is not the flag that

moves; it is your mind that moves." The two monks were struck with awe.


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16. The Stone MindFa-yen,a Chinese Zen teacher, overheard four monks arguing about subjectivity and

objectivity. He joined them and said: "There is a big stone. Do you consider it to be inside or

outside your mind?"

One of the monks replied: "From the Buddhist viewpoint everything is an objectification ofmind, so I would say that the stone is inside my mind."

"Your head must feel very heavy," observed Fa-yen, "if you are carrying around a stone like

that in your mind."

17.There are two monks. Younger is sitting in zazen. Elder inquires, Why are you sitting in

zazen? Younger replies, By sitting in zazen, I hope eventually to become a buddha. Elder

picks up a brick and begins rubbing it on a rock (I tend to imagine that he has tracked

through a lot of carefully raked Zen sand and it rubbing the brick on one of those ancient

black growing stones). Younger laughs, And what are you doing? Elder replies, I ampolishing this brick in hopes that eventually it will become a mirror. The advanced story

ends here, but for the rest of us it continues. Younger asks, How can polishing a brick make

a mirror? Elder retorts, How can sitting in zazen make a buddha! And, true to the ancient

formula, the younger monk instantly became a mirror.

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