Short story: The Zen master who gave his life to save a cat

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The old Zen master, Rester Reskerze, was known to be a very generous man, to everyone in his community, and his fame for generosity, had spread even further than that too. His idea was that if God lacks nothing, in reality, there is nothing that he needs either, so he would give of himself, and of his goods, to anyone that requested him, of his time, money, or goods. Such attitudes of generosity connect us closer to God, as we feel ourselves acting for him, by our doing of this ourselves. He was also known as a kind man, as generosity and kindness always walk hand in hand, in the person displaying generosity too. Generosity connects us to our real self, and to our own calling in life too. The Zen master's great presence of person, enamoured him to anyone that met him. The Zen master's very last act of kindness and generosity was when he died, trying to save a neighbour's pet cat, that had become trapped, deep down a drain-hole. He had crawled in there himself, and he had soon tossed the cat up to its owner, who caught it easily, but then a sudden unexpected rush of water rushed into the pipe from out of nowhere, and carried the old man to his death, crushing him cruelly against the sides of the pipe, as it pushed his body through the pipe to the sea. At least, he got the sea burial, that he had always wanted for himself. The Zen master was presented with the opportunity to save this cat, and he realised that he must not hesitate. He always immediately tried to do all in his power to come to anyone's aid, even if that meant putting himself at risk. Here his generosity of spirit cost him his life. This Zen master always acted in this way, as he always went to anyone needing his help, without thought of himself, to help them in any which way that he could do so. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com The cat lived a long life after it was saved from a certain death, by the Zen master. It was more careful after that, having learnt some Zen from the master, who saved it too