Zen short story: What part of us do we take past death with us?

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The Zen master, Artez Zerploske, was talking to his students about personality. "We all have certain personality traits, which we can either exaggerate in ourselves, underutilise, or use optimally, to make of ourselves, all that we can be," he told them. "These character traits can become unbalanced within us, if we take them to the extreme, but we can also underuse, or leave them underdeveloped within us, too." "For, example, a kind person, is caring, compassionate, and nurturing, of others." "This can become indifference, selfishness, and mean-spiritedness, in some people, and in others, it can become intrusiveness, nit-picking interference, or nosiness." "The essential us, is not these character traits, though, nor is it our body." "I am unwell in this body," the master said, "but, well in spirit." "Nothing essential dies." And with that last remark, he died. The head student then stood up, and said: "Our master, has gone, but where has he gone too?" "The one who answers this will be the new master here, from tomorrow." No student came up with a satisfactory answer, and so, the head student said: "We are masterless here then. I am not ready to take the role either, as I too miss our master, and so, I do not know where he has gone to either." Suddenly, a gush of wind blew through the hall. A student, right up the back said quietly to no-one in particular. "Our master blew free like this wind from his body, but the wind remains in his sails, none-the-less. He has gone to the windless place, but he carries his wind with him still, too." The head monk appointed him, this knowing student, as the new Zen master. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com Our old body dies, but some ageless part in us never dies, our soul.