Thursday, September 23, 2010

Last Night's Moon and a Parable



The master Ryokan lived in a poor little hut on a mountainside. One moonlight night he came home and found a burglar looking for something to steal. But Ryokan was a hermit who owned nothing.
     "Poor fellow," he said to the robber. "You have come a long way and have found nothing. But I don't want you to leave empty-handed. Please take my clothes." And Ryokan stripped, and handed the clothes to the robber.
     "Poor fellow," said naked Ryokan, going outdoors again when the inconsiderate robber had left, "How I wish I could have given him this wonderful moon."

-- Zen parable

4 comments:

  1. The moon here was bright, clear and full of sweet dreams to come.

    I liked the parable....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I recognize that moon...
    It did visit you last night.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the way the moon is framed by the lacy tree branches.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah yes. I love this one. There is a version of it in the children's book "Zen Shorts." I really like reading that to my children. Did you happen to read Paul Krugman's NYT's editorial this week about the Angry Rich? It is infuriating, but worth the read.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...