Tosun was a well-known Zen Master of his time. He lived in several temples and taught in various provinces. The last temple he visited was so crowded with his devotees that Tosun told them he was going to stop lecturing for good. He advised them to disperse and go wherever they wanted. After that, no one could find even a trace of him.
Three years later, one of his students discovered that Tosun was living in Kyoto with several beggars under a bridge. He immediately began to beg Tosun to teach him.
“If you can do like me, at least for a couple of days, I agree,” Tosun replied.
So the former student dressed up like a beggar and spent the day with Tosun. The next day one of the beggars died. Tosun and his disciple took the body away at midnight and burned it on the mountainside. After that, they returned to their shelter under the bridge. Tosun slept soundly for the rest of the night, but the student could not sleep. When morning came, Tosun said: “Today we do not need to beg for food. Our dead friend left us something." But the student could not swallow a single piece.
“I must say that you could not act like me,” Tosun concluded. - Go away and don't bother me ever again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru