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The Deoxyribonucleic Hyperdimension

The Subjugation of a Ghost




A young wife fell sick and was about to die. "I love you so much," she told her husband, "I do not want to leave you. Do not go from me to any other woman. If you do, I will return as a ghost and cause you endless trouble."

Soon the wife passed away. The husband respected her last wish for the first three months, but then he met another woman and fell in love with her. They became engaged to be married.

Immediately after the engagement a ghost appeared every night to the man, blaming him for not keeping his promise. The ghost was clever too. She told him exactly what had transpired between himself and his new sweetheart. Whenever he gave his fiancee a present, the ghost would describe it in detail. She would even repeat conversations, and it so annoyed the man that he could not sleep. Someone advised him to take his problem to a Zen master who lived close to the village. At length, in despair, the poor man went to him for help.

"Your former wife became a ghost and knows everything you do, " commented the master. "Whatever you do or say, whatever you give your beloved, she knows. She must be a very wise ghost. Really you should admire such a ghost. The next time she appears, bargain with her. Tell her that she knows so much you can hide nothing from her, and that if she will answer you one question, you promise to break your engagement and remain single."

"What is the question I must ask her?" inquired the man.

The master replied: "Take a large handful of soy beans and ask her exactly how many beans you hold in your hand. If she cannot tell you, you will know that she is only a figment of your imagination and will trouble you no longer."

The next night, when the ghost appeared the man flattered her and told her that she knew everything.

"Indeed," replied the ghost, "and I know you went to see that Zen master today."

"And since you know so much," demanded the man, "tell me how many beans I hold in this hand!"

There was no longer any ghost to answer the question.


  


A Buddha
A Cup of Tea
A Drop of Water
A Letter to a Dying Man
A Mother's Advice
A Parable
A Smile in His Lifetime
Accurate Proportion
Announcement
Arresting the Stone Buddha
Black-Nosed Buddha
Buddha's Zen
Calling Card
Children of His Majesty
Eating the Blame
Eshun's Departure
Every-Minute Zen
Everything Is Best
Finding a Diamond on a Muddy Road
Fire-Poker Zen
Flower Shower
Gisho's Work
Great Waves
Gudo and the Emperor
Happy Chinaman
How Grass & Trees Become Enlightened
How To Write a Chinese Poem
If You Love, Love Openly
In Dreamland
In the Hands of Destiny
Incense Burner
Inch Time Foot Gem
Is That So?
Joshu's Zen
Just Go To Sleep
Kasan Sweat
Killing
Learning To Be Silent
Midnight Excursion
Mokusen's Hand
Muddy Road
My Heart Burns Like Fire
No Attachment to Dust
No Loving-Kindness
No Water, No Moon
No Work, No Food
Non-Attachment
Not Far from Buddhahood
Nothing Exists
Obedience
One Note of Zen
Open Your Own Treasure House
Publishing the Sutras
Real Prosperity
Reciting Sutras
Right & Wrong
Ryonen's Clear Realization
Shoun & His Mother
Sleeping in the Daytime
Soldiers of Humanity
Sour Miso
Stingy in Teaching
Storyteller's Zen
Teaching the Ultimate
Temper
Ten Successors
The Blockhead Lord
The Dead Man's Answer
The First Principle
The Gates of Paradise
The Giver Should Be Thankful
The Last Poem of Hoshin
The Last Rap
The Last Will & Testament
The Living Buddha & the Tubmaker
The Moon Cannot Be Stolen
The Most Valuable Thing in the World
The Real Miracle
The Silent Temple
The Sound of One Hand
The Stingy Artist
The Stone Mind
The Story of Shunkai
The Subjugation of a Ghost
The Taste of Banzo's Sword
The Tea-Master & the Assassin
The Thief Who Became a Disciple
The True Path
The Tunnel
The Voice of Happiness
Three Days More
Three Kinds of Disciples
Time to Die
Tosui's Vinegar
Trading Dialogue for Lodging
True Friends
True Reformation
What Are You Doing! What Are You Saying!
Your Light May Go Out
Zen Dialogue
Zen in a Beggar's Life

 Collection of Stone and Sand from 13th & 20th Century Japan From Zen::Koans