Koans
Fables |
The master Fugai was considered very wise and generous, yet he was most severe both with himself and his disciples. He went to the mountains to sit in Zen. He lived in a cave, and when he was hungry he went to the village for scraps.  One day a monk called Bundo, attracted by Fugai's austerities, called at the cave and asked to stay the night.
The master seemed happy to put him up, and next morning prepared rice gruel for him. Not having an extra bowl he went out and returned with a skull he found lying near a tomb. He filled it with gruel and of offered it to Bundo. The guest refused to touch it, and stared at Fugai as if he had gone mad. At this Fugai became furious and drove him out of the cave with blows. 'Fool!' he shouted after him. 'How can you, with your worldly notions of filth and purity, think yourself a Buddhist?' Some months later the master Tetsugyu visited him and told him that he thought it a great pity that he had forsaken the world. Fugai laughed loudly and said, 'Oh, it's easy enough to forsake the world and become a bonzai, the difficult thing is then to become a true Buddhist.' |
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