Zen

today, a zen practitioner came to give us a talk. and he was giving analogies of some koans. and then i realised i knew those stories. so i went home to dig out one of my bk: One hand clapping zen stories for all ages.

A man was walking along the field when he saw a tiger. He fled, but a tiger ran after him. coming to the edge of the cliff, he spied a vine. Grabbing it, he swung himself down over the edge, out of reach of the tiger. He was safe! The tiger came to the edge and sniffed at him frm above.trembling, the man looked down and saw another ferocious tiger below. only the thin vine held him. two mice, one white and one black, began gnawing the vine. as they shewed, the man saw a luscious strawberry on a nearby ledge. he plucked it.

ah, how sweet it tasted!

Once, a samurai came before Zen Master Hakuin.
"you're supposed to be a great Zen master, so tell me the truth about heaven and hell. do the really exist?"
without a moment's hesitation Hakuin responded, "What, even such an ugly and untalented man as you can become a samurai? Amazing!"
Immediately, the proud samurai raised his sword "i'll kill you!" he roared.
Fearlessly, Hakuin said, "this is hell."
The samurai paused and he sheathed his sword and bowed before hakuin.
"And this, " said hakuin, just as calmly, "is heaven".

Before i grasped Zen, mountains were mountains and rivers were rivers. When i got into zen, mountains were no longer mountains and rivers were no longer rivers. But when i understood zen, the mountains were mountains and rivers were rivers.