One evening a monk knocked on the door of a Zen monastery. He was tired, hungry and wanted to stay there for the night. The owner opened the door, but instead of greeting the monk, he greeted him with a Zen koan - a very famous one. He said: “What is your original face, the face you had before your father and mother were born?” The monk took his sandal off his foot and hit the owner hard in the face with it. The owner stepped back, bowed and said: “Welcome, welcome. Your understanding is simply amazing.” Then they had a meal. In the middle of the cold night they were sitting by the fire, and the guest asked: “Did you yourself receive the answer to the koan that you asked me?” The owner said: “I am not so lucky. No, I did not receive an answer. But I had heard so much about Zen, read so much, that I was able to understand the immediacy of your answer. You did not hesitate for a moment, you did not think about it. It came from your integrity. It was not from your head - that’s what I was able to understand...” The guest did not answer. He continued to sip his tea. But then the owner became a little suspicious. He looked again at the guest's face and found something in it that he did not like. So he asked, "Please tell me - Do you really know the answer? Have you received the answer?" The guest laughed and said:
“No, dear one. I, too, have read too much about Zen and heard too much about Zen.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru