A small Zen story:🔗

It so happened that a master of a Japanese tea ceremony accidentally touched a Samurai's sword on a busy street. The angry Samurai challenged him to a duel for the insult, because to touch a Samurai's sword is considered to be like a slap in the face. The tea master apologized and explained that it had happened accidentally. But the Samurai did not listen. He asked the tea master to meet him the next day at the city gates for the duel.

The tea master didn't know what to do. He had never fought anyone in his life. He went to one of his friends who was a sword maker, to borrow a sword, and told him what had happened. The friend said it would be useless to give a sword to somebody who was not a swordsman. He advised him to face his death with honor and to perform the tea ceremony as his last gesture on Earth.

The next morning, when the tea master and the Samurai met for the duel, the tea master announced he would perform the tea ceremony before the fight. He knelt down and calmly started the ritual. The Samurai was shocked. The man was going to die in a few minutes and he was going through each step of the tea ceremony as if nothing was going to happen! He had never faced an opponent so calm before death. After some time, the Samurai could not stand it anymore.

He went over to the tea master and fell at his feet. He said, 'You face death and yet you are so calm. You are not only a great tea master but a man who has conquered the fear of death. Please forgive me for my arrogance and accept me as your disciple, so that I may learn how to face death with such calmness.'

FALLING INTO THE EMPTINESS