A wandering monk was invited to serve as a counsellor in a royal palace. He accepted, but with a single condition: he wanted one small room that would stay locked at all times, and no one was allowed to enter.

Years passed. The monk became famous for his calm judgment, his almost eerie ability to see through political bullshit. And yet, every now and then, he disappeared into that locked room for a short while. Ministers gossiped. Courtiers invented theories. Some thought he kept secret scrolls. Others swore it was treasure. A few insisted he hid some dark magic in there.

One day, while the monk was away on a trip, curiosity finally won. Someone stole the key, opened the forbidden room…

…and found nothing.

Just a single, extremely plain monk’s robe folded in the corner.

When the monk returned, the palace stormed him with questions:

What’s the meaning of this? Why keep an empty room? Why the secrecy? Why the robe?

The monk sighed.

When I need to make a difficult decision, I step into that room, take off these fancy palace clothes, put on my old robe, and sit. That robe reminds me who I was before the titles, before the power, before the noise. I stay there until my mind becomes simple and honest again. That’s why my advice has value.

Then he looked at them with disappointment:

But I told you not to enter. If you can’t grant me even the space to remember myself, then I can’t serve you.

I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.

It can't be improved.

If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.

If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,

a time for being behind;

a time for being in motion,

a time for being at rest;

a time for being vigorous,

a time for being exhausted;

a time for being safe,

a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,

without trying to control them.

She lets them go their own way,

and resides at the center of the circle.”

A student asked his master, "What is the Buddha?"

The Master answered, "A mind with no delusions."

The student said, "How can I experience what a Buddha experiences?"

"You are experiencing it."

"How can I experience it while I still have delusions?"

The master said, "This belief that you have delusions is itself a delusion."

A big, tough samurai once went to see a little monk.

"Monk!"

He barked, in a voice accustomed to instant obedience.

"Teach me about heaven and hell!"

The monk looked up at the mighty warrior and replied with utter disdain,

"Teach you about heaven and hell? I couldn't teach you about anything. You're dumb. You're dirty. You're a disgrace, an embarrassment to the samurai class. Get out of my sight. I can't stand you."

The samurai got furious. He shook, red in the face, speechless with rage. He pulled out his sword, and prepared to slay the monk.

Looking straight into the samurai's eyes, the monk said softly,

"That's hell."

The samurai froze, realizing the compassion of the monk who had risked his life to show him hell! He put down his sword and fell to his knees, filled with gratitude.

The monk said softly,

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.

This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parent went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say.

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else he needed.

A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth - the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish-market.

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back.

Imagine a bird under the open sky that thinks it is in a cage. Here just the thought of a cage is as imprisoning as any real cage would be.

Imagine that then someone says to the bird, "There's no cage. You are free to fly. Just open your eyes to it."