Gudu was the teacher of the emperor of his time. Despite this, he often traveled alone under the guise of a traveling beggar.
One day, as he was walking to Edo, the cultural and political center of the shogunate, he came to a small village called Takenaka. It was evening and it was raining heavily. Gudu was completely wet, his straw sandals fell apart. In the window of a house nearby, he noticed four or five pairs of sandals and decided to buy a dry pair.
The woman who brought him sandals, seeing that he was completely wet, invited him to spend the night in the house. Gudu accepted the invitation and thanked her.
He entered and read the supa in front of the family shrine. Then he introduced himself to the woman's mother and her children. Seeing that the whole family was depressed, Gudu asked what happened.
“My husband is a gambler and a drunkard,” said the hostess. “As soon as he gets to the wine, he gets drunk and makes scandals. When he loses, he borrows money. Sometimes, when he is completely drunk, he does not come home at all. What can I do?”
“I want to help you,” Gudu said. “Here’s some money for you. Buy me a bottle of good wine and something better to eat. After that, you can leave. I’ll do meditation in front of the shrine.”
When the husband returned home around midnight, completely drunk, he yelled: “Hey, wife, I’m home! Is there anything to chew?” “I have,” said Gudu. “On the way I was caught in the rain, and your wife was so kind that she offered me to spend the night here. To somehow repay for this, I bought wine and fish, so you can take them.”
My husband was delighted. He immediately drank all the wine and lay down on the floor. Gudu sat down next to him in meditation. In the morning, when the man woke up, he forgot everything that happened at night. "Who are you? Where are you from?" - he asked Guda, who was still sitting in meditation.
“I am Gudu from Kyoto, going to Edo,” answered the Zen teacher.
The man felt very ashamed. He began to vigorously apologize to the teacher of the emperor himself. Gudu smiled.
“Everything in your life is changeable,” he said. “Life is short. If you spend it gambling and drinking, you will not have time to achieve anything, and your family will suffer because of it.”
It was as if the husband's consciousness had awakened from a dream.
“You’re right,” he admitted. “Will I ever be able to repay you for this amazing teaching? Let me accompany you and carry your things for a little while.”
“If you want,” Gudu agreed.
The two of them set off. After they had walked three miles, Gudu invited him to return. “Let me walk another 5 miles,” the man began to ask Guda.
They continued on their way.
“You can come back now,” Gudu said. “Another 10 miles,” the man answered. “Come back now,” said Goode, when 10 miles had been covered. “I will walk with you all my life,” the man answered.
Modern teachers in Japan have taken this story from the life of a Zen teacher, a follower of Gudu. His name is Mu-nan: “The Man Who Never Returned.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru