Short story: The crying Zen master who cried, then died.
By emptychair
@innertalks (23744)
Australia
March 25, 2021 6:54pm CST
The old Zen master, Ludwert Xopkalan, was giving a talk to his students one day, when he suddenly started to cry.
The students looked at each other, and wondered what was going on.
This had never happened before.
The master looked at his students, and said,
"Looking back at my life in this talk, has made me cry. Each life has moments for crying, and moments for laughing. This was a moment for me to cry."
"Crying aligns us with the inner truth of ourselves. This was an honest cry. When we love a lot, we sometimes also want to cry."
The old master stood up from his armchair.
He stretched himself, and yawned, and then he sat down again, and with a loud sigh, he died there, and there.
This was his last cry, in more ways than one.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
Death is not the greatest loss in life. Living a life without tears is.
5 people like this
4 responses
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
26 Mar 21
i often find peace when I cry. It both relaxes and relieves!
2 people like this
@innertalks (23744)
• Australia
26 Mar 21
Yes, when I have a bad headache, I will often cry, and this tends to relieve my headache pain too.
So, crying really does relax, and relieve!
@innertalks (23744)
• Australia
28 Mar 21
@DocAndersen Even animals cry, so it really is so natural for us all to do.
I would posit that even God, probably sheds the odd tear over us all, as well.
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
27 Mar 21
@innertalks it really does - it is a useful thing for humans to cry. I cry sometimes for those who forget to cry!
2 people like this
@RasmaSandra (98106)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
26 Mar 21
Crying is a way of showing you are sympathetic to other and that you have real feelings and emotions, Crying is also a good way to unburden yourself when things seem to get too much, I have days when suddenly I just feel like crying and I let myself got for some moments and then control myself again,
2 people like this
@innertalks (23744)
• Australia
26 Mar 21
It's funny sometimes too, what can cause us to cry.
Every time when my wife cries at a sad scene in a movie, she looks across at me, to see if I am crying too.
This act of her checking my eyes, almost always makes me then cry too.
Crying can be catchy too, it seems....lol...
@RasmaSandra (98106)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
26 Mar 21
@innertalks I can tell you both crying and laughing can be infectious.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23744)
• Australia
26 Mar 21
@RasmaSandra Enthusiasm can be caught too.
When I had my bookshop, I got caught up in somebody's enthusiasm sometimes, and I joined some type of a pyramid scheme, much to my own horror. I cooled off after he had gone, but he was so enthusiastic that I sort of went along with his ride.
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (209163)
• United States
26 Mar 21
I bet his students were shell shocked. When you cry you care...those without tears don't care.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23744)
• Australia
26 Mar 21
Yes, I agree. Crying is a sign of caring, and of being compassionate, and empathetic too.
Crying can be at the tip of nearly every emotion that is allowed to flow fully.
Love can bring tears. Hurting can bring tears. Caring can bring tears.
Sadness, of course, can bring tears also.
Even anger and frustration can bring us to tears too.
@Shiva49 (28397)
• Singapore
26 Mar 21
Though men, especially, suppress crying, it is part of our overall emotions that have a role to play.
Some are more emotional and sensitive and just let their emotions run riot without suppressing them.
Yes, we need to partake fully in life without forced restrictions on emotions
The Zen master wanted to leave an indelible impression on his students on the importance of living life to the hilt in terms of display of emotions.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23744)
• Australia
26 Mar 21
Nicely put, siva.
Every emotion comes up in us for a reason, and we should try to uncover that reason, rather than to keep it buried.
The Zen master was trying to show to his students that this applies even to Zen masters too.
@innertalks (23744)
• Australia
27 Mar 21
@Shiva49 That is a good way to step back from a trying time, to think of it as a test, and to actually test yourself to see how good you are doing in your passing of that test.
Yes, trying to keep our emotions in a balanced state is a good idea too, as giving in to them, and becoming unbalanced in one particular emotion, such as anger, can cause much future increased angst for us too.
@Shiva49 (28397)
• Singapore
27 Mar 21
@innertalks Through my real life experiences, and as we all know, emotions are on a roller coaster.
I tend to take reverses as falling short of aspirations and elatement as our reaction to good tidings.
So too much of emotions, excitement, is not my style.
I am contented if the overall graph is on the ascendancy as a result of my efforts.
I analyze the reasons for the perceived reverses and if they are just bad luck , why forget the good breaks I have enjoyed?
1 person likes this
