Back to photostream

'I wish I could give him this beautiful moon...'

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 shoud not return emptyhanded. 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."

408 views
0 faves
0 comments
Uploaded on September 12, 2009
Taken on September 7, 2009