Ryokan lived the life of a hermit in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening, while Ryokan was away, a thief broke into the...

One farmer came to the monastery to seek advice from a famous Zen teacher. “I like farming,” the farmer started, “but sometimes it...

While meditating in his room, a student thought he saw a spider moving on the ceiling and descending above his head. Each day, the spider...

A zen master points at the sea to one of his pupils and tells him, "You believe that spirit commands matter. Well then, forbid those...

What better way to start this series than with a koan, those pills of wisdom, highly condensed stories, which according to the masters'...