Short instructive zen stories

 Painting of nature

The seventh elder of the Jufukuji Monastery, Master Ekichu, was a famous painter. One day the warrior Nobumitsu came to him and asked him from the door if he could paint the scent of the favorite verse "After walking through the flowers, the horse's hoof smells." Master Ekichu drew a horse's hoof and a butterfly hovering around him attracted by the scent.

Nobumitsu then recited the verse "Spring wind on the riverbank" and asked him to paint the wind. The teacher drew a sloping willow branch.

Nobumitsu quoted the famous zenist saying, "The finger pointed at the human heart." He asked her to paint a picture of his heart. The teacher took the paintbrush and threw a drop of ink on Nobumitsu's face. The warrior was surprised and angry, and the teacher immediately painted the angry face.

Nobumitsu then asked for a picture of nature, saying, "see nature." The teacher took the brush in his hand and said:

"This is a picture."

Nobumitsu did not understand, so the teacher said:

"If you do not have what the eye sees, you will not see."

Nobumitsu told him:

"Take another brush and paint a picture of nature."

The teacher answered:

"Show me your nature, and I will paint it."

Nobumitsu was speechless.

One note zen

During a visit to China, Kakua embraced the teachings of Zen. He did not travel anywhere during his stay. Instead, he lived in constant meditation on the most desolate part of a mountain. If some people found him at all, begging him to preach to them, he would say a few words and then move to another, even more, inaccessible part of the mountain.

Upon returning to Japan, even the emperor heard of Kakua and asked him to interpret his Zen to elevate himself spiritually.

Kakua stood and was silent before the emperor. Then he took a flip flop out of the inside of his cloak and played only a short note. Finally, he bowed deeply and left.

Murder

One day Gassan advised his followers:

"Those who speak out against murder and demand that the lives of all conscious beings be spared are right. It is good to protect animals and insects. But what about those who kill their time, what about those who ruin their health, or those who ruin their economy? We should not overlook them. And what about the one who preaches without enlightenment? "He kills Buddhism."

Falling petals

Subhuti was a disciple of the Buddha. He knew how to understand the power of emptiness, believing that nothing exists outside the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity.

One day Subhuti was sitting under a tree in a mood of sublime emptiness. Then, the petals began to fall around him.

"We praise you for your word of holiness," the gods whispered to him.

"But I did not say anything about the emptiness," Subhuti said.

"You did not talk about emptiness. We did not hear about emptiness," the gods replied.

"That is the true emptiness." And the flowers began to fall on Subhuti like snow.