Zen Tale: The master who turned into a crow

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The unknown Zen master of old, Matsua Xenko, was dying of consumption. His students gathered anxiously around him, as he was about to breathe his last, “ha ha” to them. They expected him to say to them something profound, as was the custom for dying masters of that time to do. The old man roused himself for one brief moment and the fire of life came back into his eyes one more time, as he roared with laughter, and died. The students tried to lift up the body, but it appeared now to be unusually heavy for such a frail old man. They waited. They left him there until the next day, but when they returned the next day, there was now no body there. There was a handwritten note pinned neatly to the bed, on which the old master had lain for the last few weeks of his life. It simply said, “The old crow has flown away. The body has served until now. I take all with me, nowhere to go. My laughter opened Buddha’s door. The goose is not cooked by itself.” The students looked immediately out of the window. They saw a large black crow sitting on a wooden post there. The old master had departed just as a crow landed now nearby. Photo Credit: This photo is taken from the free media site: pexels.com