Ento was a famous storyteller. His stories of love excited listeners. When he talked about the war, it seemed to his listeners that they themselves had been on the battlefield.
One day Encho met Yamaoka Choshu, a man who had almost mastered the art of Zen.
“I know,” said Yamaoka, “that you are the best storyteller in our country and that you can make people cry and laugh.” Tell me my favorite story about the peach boy. When I was a baby, I used to sleep with my mother, and she often told me this story. Somewhere in the middle of the story I fell asleep. Tell me a story the way my mother told it to me.
Encho did not dare to get down to business right away.
He asked for time to study this story. A few months later he came to Yamaoka and said:
“Please give me the opportunity to tell you this story.”
“Any other day,” Yamaoka replied.
Encho was disappointed.
He continued to study the tale and tried to tell it again. Yamaoka rejected him many times. As soon as Encho began to talk, Yamaoka stopped him, saying:
- No, no, you still don’t love like my mother.
It took Encho five years to tell this legend to Yamaoka the way her mother Yamaoka told it!
Thus Yamaoka passed on Zen to Encho.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru