Zen Stories

33. Mokusen's Hand
Mokusen Hiki was living in a temple in the province of Tamba. One of his adherents complained of the stinginess of his wife.

Mokusen visited the adherent's wife and showed her his clenched fist before her face. 'What do you mean by that?' asked the surprised woman.
'Suppose my fist were always like that. What would you call it?' he asked.
‘Deformed,' replied the woman.

Then he opened his hand flat in her face and asked: 'Suppose it were always like that. What then?'
'Another kind of deformity,' said the wife.

‘If you understand that much,' finished Mokusen, 'you are a good wife.' Then he left. After his visit, this wife helped her husband to distribute as well as to save.

34. A Smile in His Lifetime
Mokugen was never known to smile until his last day on earth. When his time came to pass away he said to his faithful ones: 'You have studied under me for more than ten years. Show me your real interpretation of Zen. Whoever expresses this most clearly shall be my successor and receive my robe and bowl.'

Everyone watched Mokugen's severe face but no one answered. Encho, a disciple who bad been with his teacher for a long time, moved near the bedside. He pushed forward the medicine cup a few inches. This was his answer to the command.

The teacher's face became even more severe. 'Is that all you understand?' he asked. Encho reached out and moved the cup back again.

A beautiful smile broke ova the features of Mokugen. ‘You rascal,' he told Encho. ‘You worked with me ten years and have not yet seen my whole body. Take the robe and bowl. They belong to you.'

35. Every-Minute Zen
Zen students are with their masters at last ten years before they presume to teach others. Nan-in was visited by Tenno, who, having passed his apprenticeship, had become a teacher.

The day happened to be rainy, so Tenno wore wooden clogs and carried an umbrella. After greeting him Nan-in remarked: 'I suppose you left your wooden clogs in the vestibule. I want to know if your umbrella is on the right or left side of the clogs.'

Tenno, confused, had no instant answer. He realized that he was unable to carry his Zen every minute. He became Nanin's pupil, and he studied six more years to accomplish his every-minute Zen.

36. Flower Shower
Subhuti was Buddha's disciple. He was able to understand the potency of emptiness, the viewpoint that nothing exists accept in its relationship of subjectivity and objectivity.

One day Subhuti, in a mood of sublime emptiness was sitting under a tree. Flowers began to fall about him. 'We are praising you for your discourse on emptiness,' the gods whispered to him.
‘But I have not spoken of emptiness,' said Subhuti.
'You have not spoken of emptiness, we have not heard emptiness,' responded the gods. This is the true emptiness.' And blossoms showered upon Subhuti as rain.

37. Publishing the Sutras
Tetsugen, a devotee of Zen in Japan, decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese. The books were to be printed with wood block in an edition of seven thousand copies, a tremendous undertaking.

Tetsugen began by traveling and collecting donations for this purpose. A few sympathizers would give him a hundred pieces of gold, but most of the time he received only small coins. He thanked each donor with equal gratitude.

After ten yens Tetsugen had enough money to begin his task. It happened that it that time the Uji River overflowed. Famine followed. Tetsugen took the funds he had collected for the book and spent them to save others from starvation. Then he began again his work of collecting.

Several years afterwards an epidemic spread over the country. Tetsugen gave away what he had collected, to help his people.

For a third time he started his work, and after twenty years his wish was fulfilled. The printing blocks which produced the first edition of sutras can be seen today in the Obaku monastery in Kyoto.

The Japanese tell their children that Tetsugen made three sets of sutras, and that the first two invisible sets surpass even the last.