A monk named Seizei asked of Sozan: "Seizei is alone and poor. Will you give him support?" Sozan asked: "Seizei?"...

A monk asked Seijo: "I understand that a Buddha who lived before recorded history sat in meditation for ten cycles...

A monk told Joshu: "I have just entered the monastery. Please teach me." Joshu asked: "Have you eaten your rice...

Kyogen said: `Zen is like a man hanging in a tree by his teeth over a precipice. His hands grasp...

Jiun, a Shingon master, was a well-known Sanskrit scholar of the Tokugawa era. When he was young he used to...

While waiting to pick up a friend at the airport in Portland, Oregon, I had one of those life-changing experiences...

A monk asked Joshu, a Chinese Zen master: "Has a dog Buddha-nature or not?" Joshu answered: "Mu." [Mu is the...

A philosopher asked Buddha: "Without words, without the wordless, will you you tell me truth?" The Buddha kept silence. The...

Shoichi was a one-eyed teacher of Zen, sparkling with enlightenment. He taught his disciples in Tofuku temple. Day and night...

There was a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the...

Zengetsu, a Chinese master of the T'ang dynasty, wrote the following advice for his pupils: "Living in the world yet...

Morvilliers, keeper of the seals to Charles the Ninth of France, was one day ordered by his sovereign to put...