Zen Story – Nothing Exists

During the past couple of months, some Zen stories have come in to my awareness. These stories have inspired me and helped open my awareness.

This Zen Story – Nothing Exists can be found in the book entitled Zen Flesh Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings.

“Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.

Desiring to show his attainment, he said: “The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received.”

Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.

“If nothing exists,” inquired Dokuon, “where did this anger come from?””

 

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If you liked this story, you may like to have a look at these stories as well –

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