A university professor researching Zen sought master Nan-in, who served him tea. Nan-in poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,”...

A man came on a horse galloping down the road. Another man asked him where he was going. The rider answered to ask the horse as he didn’t knew.

The horse symbolizes our habits, often established not by our intentional actions, but by our surroundings and mindless activity. The...

A meditation pupil was caught stealing. Master Bankei ignored the case. It happened again and Bankei disregarded it. The other pupils, angered, said they would leave if the thief wasn’t expelled. Bankei said they could leave for they already knew right from wrong but he would keep the thief, a...

A master acrobat would walk around while balancing in his head a bamboo pole where his pupil stood on. One day, the teacher said they should watch each other to help maintain concentration and balance. The pupil answered :" I think it would be better for each of us to watch oursel...