Zen Story: A Zen koan about death being met while alive. That's the only way that it can be met.

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The Zen master, Lucknow Ripockske, had been a Zen master for the best part of 60 years, and he was now approaching 80, years of age. He knew that his remaining time on this Earth, was short, as he had been suffering difficulty breathing, when exercising, and he knew that his old heart was about to conk out soon. He wanted to give his students one last koan, before he died, so that they might see the door of death opening right in front of them, by answering it, and so see his dying for real, not just in their minds. He said to them, "Death is not death until it's met with life, and then death is really death." None of his students got the answer to his koan. So, he answered them: "I died," and he died. His soul had vacated its bench. "A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist." Stewart Alsop, an American writer, (1914 to 1974) said this. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com The Zen master had left his bench behind, and had taken a seat somewhere else.