In this series, we present “Zen” Stories. The book Zen Flesh, Zen Bones – compiled by Paul Reps – is the source of the majority of these stories, some of which are reproduced here. Many are also repeated, sometimes in altered form, far and wide across the internet.

What makes a story Zen? Who can say? Indeed, saying you understand a Zen story is to misunderstand the point of them. For even if by some measurable standard you actually arrive at the meaning the author intended to convey, you are still nowhere.

No, no, no, no mon ami. Whether a story is truly “Zen” or not, this much is certain. You need to bathe in such a story. Float on top of it, then dive underneath it. You must swim around in it. Luxuriate in its silkiness or skate over its diamond-like hardness. Be engulfed in its waves as they crash over you and then bring yourself up and out into the sunlight and warm summer air. Or you may need to sink down into the depths of your being; never to return to the surface unaltered. Strange new worlds indeed.