Short story: The old Zen master's gift

Tweet

The old Zen master had been noticed to have been keeping a diary for over 40 years, from when he had become the new Zen master at this monastery. He carried it everywhere with him, and was often seen making an entry into it, by his students, but, he had never shared anything from this diary to them, over all of this long time. A student, who was a bit of a rebel, thought that the Zen master was rather attached to his diary, and he thought that it was time for the student to teach the master something. So, one night, he sneaked into the master's room, got the diary, and burnt it, in the cauldron, in the meeting room, which used to be fired up for the students, on particularly cold days, when they sat idly in meditation. The next day, as the master came out to breakfast, the student told the master that he had done something to break the master's dependent attachment to diary keeping. He had burnt his diary. The old master, frowned, or at least, he appeared to do so. He said: "When is a diary really a diary, though?" "Mine was never a diary, as such, as it was being kept as a gift to my students, for after I die, so that they might be reminded of some of my teachings to them, over the years here." The old master then smiled, and said to his pertinent student. "Do not worry too much about your rash action here, as my teachings have never been burnt, and still resides in you all." "This incident of the cauldron will spark remembrance in you when you think of it, and so you will no longer need my diary." "On the other hand though, the diary you burnt was an empty one, as I kept two diaries, and the precious one, I never do leave it lying around like that empty one, put there, for anyone that tries to destroy, or steal it, as you did last night." "So, you will all be able to read this diary still when I am gone, just try to take care of it, as any gift given to you should be accepted as a gift, and not despised as being anything else other than what it really is." "Your thinking was in your mind, and if you had checked in with your heart, you would never have carried out such a rashly brashly act of destructiveness." The student changed his ways after this, and surprisingly enough, he went on to become the replacement Zen master, when the old Zen master died, not long, after this event. His name, as the chosen replacement, was written in pen, on the last page of the old master's diary. The old master had known that a valuable lesson in thought, and heart based actions, had been learnt here, by his student. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com The old Zen master's diary was hand written by himself.