True Practice (an old monk)

It was winter retreat. Just one day before the beginning of the session, an old monk asked to participate in the retreat. Although he begged so much, all the monks objected to it, because he was married and he said that he had to stay and work in his own temple at night. In fact, it was violation of the rule in the temple. However, the zen master in the session told them to accept his request, saying that his willingness to study should not be broken. Thus he could study there together.

When there was a tea party in the middle of the session, one monk asked the zen master what meaning it had to "look for a cow, on the very cow", after bowing 3 times to him courteously. He answered, "Now that you say you are looking for a cow, being mounted on the cow, please don't look for it, but set forth the cow you have mounted." Upon hearing this talk by the side, the old miserable monk shouted clapping his hands, "Now, got it," Then, all the other monks laughed saying that he had gone mad at last. However, the zen master said that it was not a laughing matter and took him to his room. After quite a while, the zen master came out and announced his getting the ultimate truth. The old monk hit the ground and cried before the zen master, saying, "I should live in the darkness forever, if you had not accepted me."

The other monks were frustrated. Some one said he felt as if he were blind and food in mouth were sand for three days. One of them meditated for 16 days without drinking a drop of water and sleeping a wink. At last he was on the brink of death and he recovered with the aid of the others. There is no senior or junior in zen practice.