Zen story: The bell rang twice

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Every morning, in the Zen monastery, the bell would ring twice. Nothing was ever said about why this was being done, but the students thought that it was a call for them to get up for the day, and to do their morning meditation. Until, one day, the old Zen master asked them directly: "Each morning the bell rings twice, but what does it mean, as it does so, in the monastery?" Not one of his students ventured to make an answer. And so, the master went on, and said: "It means nothing to you, unless the master has allocated a meaning to it, and so it is with you too. Nothing means nothing to you, until you also allocate meanings, to things in your mind." "The real art of living though, is to allocate the true meaning to each bit of nothing, that you come across." "You get up when the bell rings every morning, because you have given that meaning to the ringing. But, if I told you another meaning right now, your actions tomorrow would be different." "The bell rings, because I ring it, and I ring it so that the cows in the field will come in to the milkshed, to be fed, and to be milked by me, to provide us milk for our breakfast." "The next morning the students all slept in, as they had always hated getting up early each morning, for so long." The master, the next day, provided the students with no milk for their breakfast. He later told the students: "The bell had more than one reason for ringing." "You should not have assumed my meaning that I gave you was the only one. Of, course, it also functions as a wake-up call for you all too." Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com The bell rang every morning, because the Zen master rung it.