Zen Stories for Students of Management.

Here with I am submitting some stories of Zen. I have used it for class room

discussion with open ended questions and I found them to be good for making

students think and learn social skills. I do not claim any originality (remember

Bill Gates, I followed him for this work). If you want me to correct any aspect

kindly send me a mail profkprabhakar@gmail.com. I am also sending these

stories to Paulo Coelho~ The Mater Story teller and Philosopher of 21st Century

and these are dedicated to him.

Story~

During the civil wars in feudal Japan, an invading army would quickly sweep

into a town and take control. In one particular village, everyone fled just before

the army arrived - everyone except the Zen master. Curious about this old man,

the general went to the temple to see for himself his activities. When the general

wasn't treated with the deference and submissiveness to which he was

accustomed, the general burst into anger.

"You fool," he shouted as he reached for his sword, "don't you realize you are

standing before a man who could run you through without blinking an eye!"

But despite the threat, the master seemed unmoved.

"And do you realize," the master replied calmly, "that you are standing before a

man who can be run through without blinking an eye?"

Moral of the story is bravery is not necessary to be shown here~ what is needed

is wisdom.

Zen Storys by Prof.Krishnamurthy Prabhakar

There was once a very popular Zen Master, due to his virtue and his skillful

delivering of talk. There happened to be a thief among his sangha. This person would

steal things once in while. Every time he was caught, the Zen Master would counsel

him & then ask the Sangha to forgive him. This went on for a while until the sangha

got sick of this thief. On one particular day, a leader, representing the sangha, issued

an ultimatum to the Zen Master. Either he expels the thief or the entire sangha would

leave. The Zen Master answered, “Then all of you, please leave”. He then explained

to the shocked crowd, “All of you know that stealing is wrong, but he doesn’t. If I

don’t teach him, who will? This man needs my guidance and my love more than any

one of you. If I have to lose all of you to keep him, let this be the case”. The thief

was so touched by this that he started to cry. From that day on, he never stole again.

The student learned and teacher fulfilled.

Yin and Yang were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was

still falling. Coming around a bend, they met a young girl in a silk kimono, unable to

cross the intersection. "Come on girl," said Yang at once. Lifting her in his arms, he

carried her over the mud. Yin did not speak again until that night when they reached a

temple. Then he could not restrain himself.

"We monks don't go near females," he told Yang, "especially not young and lovely

ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?" "I left the girl at the road," said Yang.

"Are you still carrying her in your mind?"

It talk about difference between physical and mental thought process, if mere

lifting of a person is a physical process then, you may not carry any more pain or

pleasure. If it is carried in mind then we will have the pain or pleasure.

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A student once asked, "What is the difference between a Man of Tao and a

knowledgeable man?" The Zen Master replied, "It is simple. When the knowledgeable

man becomes a student, he can hardly wait to run home and shout at the top of his

voice to tell everyone. Upon hearing the words of the master, he will climb to the

rooftops and shout to the people. Upon learning the ways of the master, he will parade

through town telling one and all about his new knowledge". The Zen Master

continues, "When the Man of Tao becomes a student, he will bow his head in

gratitude. Upon hearing the words of the master, he will bow his head and his

shoulders. Upon learning the ways of the master, he will bow to the waist and quietly

walk alongside the wall so that people will not see him or notice him".

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A monk set off on a long pilgrimage to find the Buddha. He devoted many years

to his search until he finally reached the land where the Buddha was said to live.

While crossing the river to this country, the monk looked around as the boatman

rowed. He noticed something floating towards them. As it got closer, he realized

that it was the corpse of a person. When it drifted so close that he could almost

touch it, he suddenly recognized the dead body - it was his own! He lost all

control and wailed at the sight of himself, still and lifeless, drifting along the

river's currents. That moment was the beginning of his liberation.

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One day Rajiv and a friend were walking by a river.

"Look at the fish swimming about;" said Rajiv, "They are really enjoying

themselves." "You are not a fish," replied the friend, "So you can't truly know that

they are enjoying themselves." "You are not me," said Rajiv. "So how do you know

that I do not know that the fish are enjoying themselves?"

Should we become others to know what they are experiencing?

Is it possible that each of us have different ideas about the world at the same time

agreed with each other?

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Zhou became a teacher of Zen. When he was still a student his father passed away,

leaving him to take care of his old mother. Whenever Zhou went to a meditation hall

he always took his mother with him. Since she accompanied him, when he visited

monasteries he could not live with the monks. So he would built a little house and

care for her there. He would copy sutras, Buddhist verses, and in this manner receive

a few coins for food. When Zhou bought fish for his mother, the people would look

down upon him. For a monk is not supposed to eat fish. His mother, however, was

hurt to see others laugh at her son. Finally she told Zhou: "I think I will become a nun.

I can be vegetarian too." She did, and they studied together. Zhou was fond of music

and is good in playing harp, which his mother also played. On full-moon nights they

used to play together. One night a young lady passed by their house and heard music.

Deeply touched, she invited Zhou to visit her next evening and play. He accepted the

invitation. A few days later he met the young lady on the street and thanked her for

her hospitality. Others laughed at him. He had visited the house of a woman of the

streets. One day Zhou left for a distant temple to deliver a lecture. A few months

afterwards he returned home to find his mother dead. Friends had not known where to

reach him, so the funeral was in progress. Zhou walked up and hit the coffin with his

staff. "Mother, your son has returned," he said.

"I am glad to see you have returned, son," he answered for his mother.

"Yes, I am glad too," Zhou responded. Then he announced to the people about him:

"The funeral ceremony is over. You may bury the body." When Zhou was old he

knew his end was approaching. He asked his disciples to gather around him in the

morning, telling them he was going to pass on at noon. Burning incense before the

picture of his mother and his old teacher, he wrote a poem:

For fifty-six years I lived as best I could,

making my way in this world.

Now the rain has ended, the clouds are clearing;

the blue sky has a full moon.

His disciples gathered around him, reciting sutra, and Zhou passed away during the

invocation.

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In the early days 16th century there lived a well-known wrestler called, Great Waves.

Great Waves was immensely strong and knew the art of wrestling. In his private bouts

he defeated even his teacher, but in public he was so shy that his own pupils threw

him. He went to his teacher and asked for a solution.

"Great Waves is your name," the teacher advised, "so stay in this temple tonight,

imagine that you are those billows. You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid. You

are those huge waves sweeping everything before them, swallowing in their entire

path. Do this and you will be the greatest wrestler in the land."

The teacher retired. Great Waves sat in meditation trying to imagine him as waves. He

thought of many different things. Then gradually he turned more and more to the

feeling of the waves. As the night advanced the waves became larger and larger. They

swept away the flowers in their vases. Even the Buddha in the shrine was inundated.

Before dawn the temple was nothing but the ebb and flow of an immense sea. In the

morning the teacher found Great Waves meditating, a faint smile on his face. He

patted the wrestler's shoulder. "Now nothing can disturb you," he said. "You are those

waves. You will sweep everything before you."

The same day Great Waves entered the wrestling contests and won. After that, no one

in Japan was able to defeat him.

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Word spread across the countryside about the wise Holy Man who lived in a small

house atop the mountain. A man from the village decided to make the long and

difficult journey to visit him. When he arrived at the house, he saw an old servant

inside. "I would like to see the Holy Man," he said to the servant. The servant

smiled and led him inside. As they walked through the house, the man from the

village looked eagerly around the house, anticipating his encounter with the Holy

Man. Before he knew it, he had been led to the back door and escorted outside. He

stopped and turned to the servant, "But I want to see the Holy Man!"

"You already have," said the wise-old man. "Everyone you may meet in life, even if

they appear plain and insignificant, see each of them as a Holy Man. If you do this,

then whatever problem you brought here today will be solved."

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Zen master lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One

evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing to steal

The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away. Zen master sat naked,

watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, "I wish I could have given him this

beautiful moon."

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A Zen master received a scholar who came to inquire about Zen. He told Zen master

that he has taught the entire important things necessary and wanted Zen master to

teach him Zen Philosophy. Zen teacher smiled and gave an empty cup. He poured his

visitor's cup full, and then keeps on pouring. Until it was over flowing and the hot tea

was pouring out of the cup. The scholar watched the overflow until he no longer could

restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"

Zen teacher said “You either have to drink the tea, or empty the cup to have more of

tea”.

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A shopkeeper was tacking a sign above his door that read “Puppies for Sale”. Signs

like that have a way of attracting small children, and sure enough, a little boy

appeared under the shopkeeper’s sign.

“How much are you going to sell the puppies for?” he asked. The shopkeeper

replied, “Anywhere from Rs.10 to Rs.15.” The little boy reached in his pocket and

pulled out some change. “I have two rupees and fifty paisa”.

However, is it possible to have a look at the puppies? The shopkeeper smiled and

whistled and out of the kennel came lady, who ran down the aisle of his store

followed by five teeny, tiny balls of fur. One puppy was lagging considerably behind.

He asked the storekeeper “What’s wrong with that little puppy?”

The shopkeeper explained that the puppy has a deformity and cannot walk properly.

“That is the little puppy that I want to buy, the boy said.”

The shopkeeper said, ‘No, you don’t want to buy that little dog, since you got less

money you wanted to have it. If you really want him, I’ll give him to you at no cost.”

The little boy was unhappy. He looked straight into the shopkeeper’s eyes, and said,

“I don’t want you to give him to me free. That little dog is worth every bit as much as

all the other dogs and I’ll pay full price. In fact, I’ll give you Rs.2.50 now, and one

rupee a month until I have him paid for.” The shopkeeper asked him, “You really

don’t want to buy this little dog. He is never going to be able to run and jump and play

with you like the other puppies. For this reaction of shopkeeper the little boy reached

down and rolled up his pant leg to reveal a badly polio affected, crippled left leg

supported by metal brace. “Well, I don’t run so well myself, and the little puppy will

need someone who understands!”