Thirty-eight years ago, philosopher George Santayana came into a sizable legacy and was able to relinquish his post on the Harvard faculty. The classroom was packed for his final appearance, and Santayana did himself proud. He was about to conclude his remarks when he caught sight of a forsythia uncurling in a patch of muddy…
A king was very much interested in a young man who always remained underneath a tree, sitting silently. Every night the king passed around the city in disguise to see whether everything was right or not. He always found that young man sitting like a statue, without any movement. Finally, he could not contain his…
A Hassid Master was dying. He was a very extraordinary human being, of great innocence and joy. He loved to laugh and dance and sing; that’s the way of the Hassids. Jews don’t think well of them; they think they are untraditional, in fact anti-traditional, but that’s how real spiritual beings have always been treated…
One day one of Buddha’s sannyasins was passing through a street where he had gone to beg. The most beautiful woman of that town, the prostitute of the town, fell in love with the monk. She came down out of her house and requested the monk to come and reside with her. And soon the…
In a village there was a fool. He was very upset because no matter what he said people laughed at him. People had decided he was a blithering idiot. Even when he said something right people still laughed at him. He lived cowering, not daring even to speak. If he didn’t speak people laughed, if…
Behind a temple there was a field where a lot of squashes were ripening. One day a fight started. Now, you know, squashes are squashes… a great fight. The squashes split into two groups and made a big racket shouting at each other. And of course they used to live in a temple, they were…
I was reading about a Zen master, Tozan – a very famous Zen master. The story says that the Gods wanted to see him, but they couldn’t because he was just an emptiness. They would enter into him from this side and that, they would pass through him, but he was nowhere to be found….
Two disciples came to a Master, they wanted to be initiated. The Master gave one parrot to each and told the disciples to go to an absolutely lonely place where nobody is watching, and kill the parrot, and come back. The first came back within minutes. He went outside the house, went behind the house,…
Some people brought a woman to Jesus and said, “She has committed adultery. It is written in the ancient scriptures, that she should be stoned to death. What do you think?” Jesus was sitting on the bank of a river. He must have fallen deep in thought: “If I tell them to stone her to…
“Tough day?” “No, just taking a quick break.” The two Beings of Light reclined at the bar, musing at the human soul below who glared back up at them, shaking her fist. “How long has she been at it?” the second Being asked, sipping from a tall glass. “Fourth lifetime now,” the first one replied,…
