Skip to content

The Daily Dharma – May 21, 2021

Bright white clouds above the Rio Grande Gorge with a spot of bright sunlight in the shadow area of the rocky wall as seen from the bridge in Taos, New Mexico.

If You Love, Love Openly

Twenty monks and one nun, who was named Eshun, were practicing meditation with a certain Zen master.

Eshun was very pretty even though her head was shaved and her dress plain. Several monks secretly fell in love with her. One of them wrote her a love letter, insisting on a private meeting.

Eshun did not reply. The following day the master gave a lecture to the group, and when it was over, Eshun arose. Addressing the one who had written her, she said: “If you really love me so much, come and embrace me now.”

101 Zen Stories
as printed in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones

Gorge Clouds Painting Seamus Berkeley