Tosui was a Zen master. He abandoned the formalism of temples and went to live with the beggars under the bridge. When he became an old man, his friend helped him earn a living without begging. He showed Tosui how to harvest rice and make vinegar from it, and Tosui did this until his death.
When Tosui was making vinegar, one of the beggars gave him a portrait of Buddha. Tosui hung it on the wall of the shack and wrote an inscription on it.
The inscription read: “Mr. Amida Buddha, this small room is very narrow. I can let you stay here for a while. But don’t think that I’m asking you to help me get to your paradise.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru