TagPaul Reps

Hakuin

Is That So?

Zen Story, Paul Reps: 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 was with child...

old-tree-silhouette

No Loving-Kindness

Zen Story, Paul Reps: THERE WAS an old woman in China who had supported a monk for over twenty years. She had built a little hut for him and fed him while he was meditating. Finally she wondered just what progress he had made in all this time. To...

The moon

The Moon Cannot Be Stolen

Zen Story, Paul Reps: 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. Ryokan returned and caught him. “You may...

muddy-road

Muddy Road

Zen Story, Paul Reps: TANZAN AND EKIDO were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling. Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection. “Come on, girl,” said...

Flower Shower

Zen Story, Paul Reps: SUBHUTI WAS Buddha’s disciple. He was able to understand the potency of emptiness, the viewpoint that nothing exists except in its relationship of subjectivity and objectivity. One day Subhuti, in a mood of sublime emptiness...

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