When your heart is full of gratitude, any door that seems closed can lead you to amazing discoveries.
Very few women have mastered the basics of Zen. Rengetsu is one of them. She was on a pilgrimage and came to the village at sunset. Rengetsu asked for shelter for the night. But the villagers slammed the doors on her. They must have been orthodox Buddhists and could not keep the Zen woman; they drove her out of the village. The night was cold, and the woman was left hungry and without shelter. The cherry tree in the field gave her shelter. It was really cold at night, and she still couldn’t sleep... And it was dangerous - wild animals... At midnight, she woke up, shivering from the cold, and saw: in the spring night sky, blossoming cherry blossoms were smiling at the foggy moon. Overwhelmed, defeated by beauty, she stood up and curtsied towards the village: “Thanks to them, I was left without an overnight stay, but I found myself at night under the cherry blossoms and the foggy moon!” With great sincerity she thanked these people who had refused her lodging for the night; because otherwise she would have slept under an ordinary roof and would have missed these cherry blossoms, this whisper of flowers and the moon, and this silence of the night, such complete silence of the night. She wasn't angry, she accepted it, not only accepted it, she welcomed it. She felt grateful.
Life is wonderful and every moment it comes with a thousand and one gifts for you. But you are so busy, so absorbed in thoughts with your desiring mind, you are so full of your thoughts that you reject all these gifts. God comes constantly; and you continue to refuse.
A person becomes a Buddha the moment he accepts everything that life brings with gratitude.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru