One day, Master Kamizumi, traveling around the country, saw an alarmed crowd around a locked hut in a mountain village. The peasants explained that the robber had barricaded himself in the house, taking a little boy hostage. The robber demanded free passage and ransom, threatening otherwise to kill the child. Kamizumi asked a passing Zen monk for his robe, shaved his head, and walked up to the hut with two bags of rice in his hands. He threw the first package out the window, saying that the child’s parents had sent him food and that he could not throw the second, larger package out the window. When the robber opened the door and extended his hand, the master instantly grabbed him by the arm, pulled him out and twisted him. A Zen monk observing this scene bowed before him and handed the brave samurai a kara - a sacred talisman that signified belonging to the Zen sect.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru