10 Short Zen Stories
Buddhism has used parables, anecdotes, fables, and tales to help people expand their consciousness by offering them enlightening insights and moral life lessons. This culminates in Zen Buddhism, a tradition famous for using short stories to help Buddhist students develop a deeper understanding of reality.
A Useless Life
A farmer got so old that he couldn’t work the fields anymore.
- He built a wood coffin and dragged it over to the porch, and told his son to get in
- Without saying anything, the father climbed inside and closed the lid
- After closing the lid, the son dragged the coffin to the edge of the farm where there was a high cliff
- As he approached the drop, he heard a light tapping on the lid from inside the coffin and opened it up
Time to Die
Ikkyu, the Zen master, was very clever even as a boy.
It Will Pass
It will pass.
Cliffhanger
A man ran from a tiger and came to the edge of a cliff, dangling precariously on a vine, when two mice appeared from a hole in the cliff and began gnawing on the vine.
- He plucked a plump wild strawberry and popped it in his mouth. It was incredibly delicious.
The Gates of Paradise
A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin, and asked: “Is there really a paradise and a hell?”
- Hakuin remarked: “Here open the gates of paradise,” said Hakuin.
- At these words the samurai, perceiving the master’s discipline, sheathed his sword and bowed.
Working Very Hard
Dedicated students should work very hard to master a skill. They should practice every day, ten or more hours a day if they can, and try to improve their technique over time.
The Other Side
A young Buddhist on his journey home came to the banks of a wide river.
- He yells over to the teacher, “Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river”? The teacher ponders for a moment, looks up and down the river and yells back, “My son, you are on the other – side”.
Moving Mind
Mind is the only thing that moves.
The Moon Cannot Be Stolen
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain
- One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.
- “You may have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you shoud not return emptyhanded. Please take my clothes as a gift.”
A Cup of Tea
Nan-in, a Japanese master, served tea to a professor who came to inquire about Zen. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.