I'm perfect
Collection
I'mperfect
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who had come to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”
“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
Angst
Two monks were standing in the Temple grounds, arguing about a flag that was flapping wildly in the strong winds that were blowing that day.
One said, ” The flag is moving. ”
The other replied, “No, it is the wind that is moving.”
Just then Hui Neng happened to pass by. He told them, ”Not the wind, not the flag. Mind is moving.”
Palatial
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 have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.”
The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away. Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow, ” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.
Urban
Night does not show things, it suggests them. It disturbes and surprises us with its strangeness. It liberates forces within us which are dominated by our reason during the daytime.
Brassai