Zen story: The Zen master's garden

Tweet

The old Zen master, Ludov Zerbroski, was singing softly to himself, as he worked in the Zen garden of his monastery, pruning the bonsai plants there carefully. A student walked over to him, and said to him, "why work hard like that in the hot sun of the day's middle, when you are already old?" The master smiled, and replied, "I work because I work, not because of the work, but because the work is in me, waiting to come out of me as work." and he kept right on pruning in the hot sun, then too. Another Zen master, walking past, had heard the conversation, and he added in his bit then too. "You are an old fool; the sun burns old fools too." "Come out of the sun, and do not let your work fool you into work at the wrong time. Control yourself, as well as your work." The old master bowed low, and left the compound, and went into his room, in the monastery. He realised he was letting his work best him, when life is more important than its work. Work at what you love, but do not let the work overlove you. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com The old Zen master's bonsai plants were meticulously cared for.