Shichiri Kojun (Japanese romaji)
| born: died: place: China? Japan? |
| Zen master: Zen disciples: |
| stories: Osho Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol. 2, ch. 1 |
| oshobob The Living Workshop |
| Zen Masters |
 |
 |
 |
| One evening as Shichiri Kojun was reciting sutras a thief with a sharp sword entered, demanding either his money or his life. Shichiri told him: "Do not disturb me. You can find the money in that drawer." Then he resumed his recitation. A little while afterwards he stopped and called: "Don't take it all. I need some to pay taxes with tomorrow." The intruder gathered up most of the money and started to leave. "Thank a person when you receive a gift," Shichiri added. The man thanked him and made off. A few days afterwards the fellow was caught and confessed, among others, the offense against Shichiri. When Shichiri was called as a witness he said: "This man is no thief, at least as far as I am concerned. I gave him the money and he thanked me for it." After he had finished his prison term, the man went to Shichiri and became his disciple. What else can you do with such a man as Shichiri? You have to become a disciple. He has converted a thief into a sannyasin. This is the alchemy of a master, he never misses any opportunity. Whatsoever opportunity is there, he uses it – even if a thief comes to a master, he will return a sannyasin. To come in contact with a master is to be transformed. You may have come for something else, you may not have come for the master at all – the thief was not there for the master. In fact, had he known that in this hut lives a master, he would not have dared at all. He had come only for the money; he had stumbled upon the master by accident. But even if you meet a buddha by accident, it is going to change you utterly. You will never be the same man again... --Osho Zen: The Path of Paradox, Vol. 2, ch. 1 |