Sleeping in the Daytime
The master Soyen Shaku passed from this world when he was sixty-one years of age. Fulfilling his life’s work, he left a great teaching, far richer than that of most Zen masters. His pupils used to sleep in the daytime during midsummer, and while he overlooked this he himself never wasted a minute. When he was but twelve years old he was already More...
Reciting Sutras
A farmer requested a Tendai priest to recite sutras for his wife, who had died. After the recitation was over the farmer asked: “Do you think my wife will gain merit from this?” “Not only your More...
The Silent Temple
Shoichi was a one-eyed teacher of Zen, sparkling with enlightenment. He taught his disciples in Tofuku temple. Day and night the whole temple stood in silence. There was no sound at all. Even the reciting of sutras More...
Is That So?
The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life. A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she More...
Finding a Diamond on a Muddy Road
Gudo was the emperor’s teacher in his time. Nevertheless, he used to travel alone—a wandering mendicant. Once when he was on his way to Edo, the cultural and political center of the shogunate, he approached More...
