The Moon Cannot Be Stolen

Ryokan, a 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 in it to steal.

Ryokan returned and caught him.  “You may 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.  He took the clothes and slunk away.

Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon.  “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.”

Zen Story No. 9 from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones,  Compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki
Photo taken 1975 outside a small hut at the top of Mt. Asserik, Senegal.

Copyright 2011, Michael Shaw