Zen Story Two:

Originally uploaded by akiruna

The emperor, who was a devout Buddhist, invited a great Zen master to the Palace in order to ask him questions about Buddhism.
"What is the highest truth of the holy Buddhist doctrine?" the emperor inquired.
"Vast emptiness... and not a trace of holiness," the master replied.
"If there is no holiness," the emperor said, "then who or what are you?"
"I do not know," the master replied.

What is there is know? I have the words and theory down
pat
No wonder I have a tendency to headaches. The problem is with my eyes, connected as they are to brain.
One of these days I’ll have to give up science.

Whoever knows that the mind is a fiction and devoid of
anything real knows that his own mind neither exists nor
doesn't exist. Mortals keep creating the mind, claiming
it exists. And arhats keep negating the mind, claiming it
doesn't exist. But bodhisattvas and buddhas neither
create nor negate the mind. This is what's meant by the
mind that neither exists nor doesn't exist...

The Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma, translated by Red Pine

“Ugh,” I say. “Ugh.”
Stepping ever closer to giving up on words. One day I’ll have to give up blogging.

Zen Story Three:
A Zen Master lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening, while he was away, a thief sneaked into the hut only to find there was nothing in it to steal. The Zen Master returned and found him.
"You have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as a gift."
The thief was bewildered, but he took the clothes and ran away.
The Master sat naked, watching the moon.
"Poor fellow," he mused," I wish I could give him this beautiful moon."