Zen short story: The Zen master's staff

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The old Zen master, Renko Baskai, was dying, and was on his deathbed. His students were gathered all around him, and he said to them: "Which one of you will I hand on my staff too?" One student picked up the staff, which was leaning against the wall, under the window, and he carefully placed it in the bed, next to the master, and said.: "Your staff belongs to you only." The old master, weak and feeble, picked up his staff, and dropped it onto the floor, saying in reply: "A dead man needs his staff as much as a rope needs its knot." The master then died, and the staff was not used again in that monastery, but buried with the master. The new master came from an outside monastery, as no one in that monastery was strong enough to carry the staff of this dead master. Often a Zen master will carry a staff to prod students falling asleep during meditation practice. Now, it is true, that invented intellectualism does not replace original knowing. No student in this monastery was awake enough to lead the other monks in their zen. They were all only Abbots, administrators, not spiritual teachers. The master would not need his staff in the next world, but they, his students, buried him with it anyway. They never did work out what his last knotty statement to them had meant. Life takes many twists and turns, but in the end, we all end up dead. Death unties all of the knots of life, and we are given a clean slate in the next world. Our heart remains true, but our karma might still affect our positioning in the next world too. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com Perhaps, the master would need his staff to climb up into Heaven with anyway?