I heard about Lin-chi, the Zen teacher. One day he was sitting in his hut and someone came to him. That man was very angry. Perhaps he had quarreled with his wife or his master, or something else had happened, but he was angry. He opened the door angrily, kicked off his shoes in anger, then walked in very respectfully and bowed deeply to Lin-chi.
Lin-chi said:
- First of all, go and ask forgiveness at the door and at the shoes.
The man must have looked at Ling-chi very strangely. There were other people sitting there who started laughing. Lin-chi said:
- Stop it!
Then he said to this man:
- If you don't do this, leave me. I won't have anything to do with you.
The man said:
“It seems crazy to ask for forgiveness from the shoes and the door.”
Lin-chi said:
“It wasn’t crazy when you expressed anger.” Would it be crazy now? Everything has consciousness. So go, and if the door does not forgive you, I will not allow you to enter.
The man felt awkward, but was forced to go. Later he himself became a monk and became enlightened. When he became enlightened, he told this story and said:
“When I stood in front of the door and asked for forgiveness, I felt awkward, stupid. But then I thought that if Lin-chi said so, then there must be something in it. I trusted Lin-chi, so I thought that although it was stupid, it had to be done. At first, everything I said to the door was only superficial, artificial; but little by little it became warmer. And Lin-chi was waiting, he said that he would watch. If the door forgives me, only then can I enter; otherwise I had to stand until the door and shoes could be persuaded to forgive me. Little by little I warmed up. I forgot that many people were looking at me. I forgot about Lin-chi - and then this activity became sincere and real. I began to feel the mood changing at the doors and shoes. And the moment I realized that the doors and shoes had changed, that they felt happy, Lin-chi immediately said that I could enter. I was forgiven."
This incident was a transformative event in his life because for the first time he realized that everything is, in fact, a crystallization of consciousness. If you don't see it, it's only because you're blind. If you don't hear it, it's because you're deaf. There is nothing material in the things around us; all this is condensed consciousness. The problem is you, you are not open and sensitive.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru