The Zen Master and a theif

[Q]

Found this story on facebook and thought I'd share it with everyone here.

How kind and compassionate the Zen master... the wisdom of highly attained beings is so different from regular people... only they can create a variety of actions and situations that will eventually benefit another being.


_____________________________________________________________________________

One evening, Zen master Shichiri Kojun was reciting sutras when a thief entered his house with a sharp sword, demanding "money or life". Without any fear, Shichiri said, "Don't disturb me! Help yourself with the money, it's in that drawer". And he resumed his recitation.

The thief was startled by this unexpected reaction, but he proceeded with his business anyway. While he was helping himself with the money, the master stopped and called, "Don't take all of it. Leave some for me to pay my taxes tomorrow". The thief left some money behind and prepared to leave. Just before he left, the master suddenly shouted at him, "You took my money and you didn't even thank me?! That's not polite!". This time, the thief was really shocked at such fearlessness. He thanked the master and ran away. The thief later told his friends that he had never been so frightened in his life.

A few days later, the thief was caught and confessed, among many others, his thieft at Shichiri's house. When the master was called as a witness, he said, "No, this man did not steal anything from me. I gave him the money. He even thanked me for it."

The thief was so touched that he decided to repent. Upon his release from prison, he became a disciple of the master and many years later, he attained Enlightenment.

[RedLantern]

The moral of the story is mainly to encourage people to be benevolent,the master was giving a chance to the thief,by using courtesy as an excuse to reduce his crime,the thief felt ashamed of himself when the master was so kind to him and turned over a new leaf.The master thought the thief had some virtues and not a really bad guy and that the may be robbing out of some kind of reasons and gave him a chance.What I learn from this story is a solid body and soul would never be shaken by a weak one and crime can be defeated with kindness.A fantastic story with a great message.

[dondrup]

All phenomena in samsara are impermanent, in the nature of suffering and are lacked of inherent existence.  Due to our ignorance, we are deceived into believing everything in samsara as real and permanent! We develop attachment to things we like.  We are averse to things we dislike.  We are indifferent to things that we neither like nor dislike. Due to our ordinary perception and these three poisons of ignorance, attachment and aversion (or hatred), we suffer. 

When we lose these things which we perceive as real and permanent, we suffer because we had developed attachment to them. When we die, we leave everything behind because there is not a single thing that belongs to us. The only thing that belongs to us is our mind which we carry with us into the next life. 

Knowing the nature of reality, the Zen master had developed renunciation to samsara.  He is not attached to his possessions.  He is willing to give his possessions away to the thief in order to benefit the thief!

[Tammy]

Thanks for sharing. I will always remember this story when I have to teach the children. When you teach by making the students understand, it will be effective, better still let them experience. Another story is a 'crude' mother who let her 3 year old girl touch a candle's flame to teach her how it is like if she were to play with fire. After getting slightly burnt on her fingers, I am sure the little girl will handle fire very carefully for the rest of her life.

[sonamdhargey]

The choice is ours on how we react to a situation. The zen master's wisdom is profound and to use fearlessness to counter evil deeds. Many a time many of us are so blinded that we act hastily in secular manner to prosecute a criminal which does nothing to improve them instead make them a bigger monster after they have serve their term. Today, criminals walking out of jail have no where to go, the general public are prejudice against them, shunning them and not letting them make a living, very soon the return to their old ways and the cycle of being a criminal never stop. The moral of the story is the outcome depends on our actions and intentions. If we all could look beyond and be compassionate and kind the outcome would have been positive. No?

[kris]

I really like this story. Thanks for sharing!!

Buddhism focus a lot of the teachings on great compassion. This is a classic story of showing compassion to all levels of being, no matter if the person is doing right or wrong. Even if a person has wrong doing, a real Buddhist practitioners will still show great compassion, and more importantly, use skillful means to get the person onto the right track.

[rossoneri]

Loved this story, it teaches us no matter what the situation is, we can still practice Dharma if we ourself have a stable mind and knowledgable. In this case the Zen Master with no attachment towards money which eventually help the thief realizes that stealing is wrong. So instead of fighting the wrong doing with force or the normal way which is trying to stop the thief taking what is belong to you, The master very skillfully showing compassion which help the thief realized right down to his roots and changed him completely.

Very inspiring.