The short story of a great Zen Master ‘Rinzai’ and The Angry Man who finds peace in his heart reminds us of our relationship with nature. Often we are so filled with anger that it starts wearing us down and makes our life harder financially, emotionally and mentally – and we become trapped in the vicious circle.
A great Zen Master, Rinzai, was sitting.
A man came. He pushed the door very hard – he must have been angry – he slammed the door. He was not in a good mood. Then he threw his shoes and came in.
Rinzai said ‘Wait. Don’t come in. First, go and ask forgiveness from the door and your shoes.’
The man said ‘What are you talking about? I have heard that these Zen people are mad, but it seems true. I thought it was just a rumour. What nonsense you are talking about! Why should I ask forgiveness from the door? And it looks so embarrassing… those shoes are mine!’
Then Rinzai said ‘You get out! Never come here again! If you can be angry at the shoes, why can’t you ask their forgiveness? When you were angry, you never thought that it was so foolish to be angry with the shoes. If you can relate to anger, then why not with love? A relationship is a relationship. Anger is a relationship. When you slammed the door with such anger, you related to the door; you behaved wrongly, and immorally. And the door has not done anything to you. First, go, otherwise, you don’t come in.’
Under the impact of Rinzai’s silence, and the people sitting there, and that presence… like a flash, the man understood.
He understood the logic of it, it was so clear. ‘If you can be angry, then why can’t you be loving? You go.’ And he went. Maybe in his whole life that was the first time. He touched the door and tears started flowing from his eyes.
He could not hold back those tears. And when he bowed down to his shoes, a great change happened in him. The moment he turned and came towards Rinzai, Rinzai took him in his arms and embraced him.
This is reconciliation. How can you pray if you are unreconciled? How can you come to a Master if you are unreconciled with existence?
Many people would find it strange to bow to material things, but that’s not the point. The point is to keep your heart filled with love so it can reflect in your actions. If we have hate, sooner or later, it will eat us completely.
The Title Short Story – Rinzai and the Angry Man, is a beautiful tale of innocence and faith. The Unknowable expresses itself in infinite forms, and it comes to those who seek its refuge with a pure heart. When you drop the veil of Maya and see life as it is, you will find yourself, and in the process, you will find the absolute.
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P.S. – We have not written the Short Story – Rinzai and the Angry Man. All the credits of the story are to the rightful owner. Another aim to put up such short stories is to inspire students from ESL (English as Second Language) countries to develop reading habits and improve their worldviews. Voxcel is an educational platform, thus we make efforts so they can change lives. We aim to not only teach IELTS and English language courses or help the students/clients to travel the world or secure their visas, but we ensure that we impart wisdom to them and in this way, we grow with them together.
Voxcel aims to impart not only world-class IELTS coaching but also we look forward to develop the overall personality of our students.