Our Current Koan 

Sweet Olive Blossoms

 

A poet was visiting a friend who was a Zen teacher, and as they were talking the poet asked, “What is Zen, anyway?”

The friend said, “Well. You know there’s a classic saying which goes, ‘My friends, do you think I’m hiding something from you? Actually, I am hiding nothing from you.’ Zen is like that.”

“I don’t get it,” said the poet, and they left it there.

 

The next day, the two of them were walking in the hills and the air was filled with the fragrance of sweet olive blossoms.

“Can you small the scent of the sweet olive blossoms?” asked the teacher.

“Yes, why yes I can!” said the poet.

“You see, I am hiding nothing from you,” said the teacher.

The poet’s heart and mind opened; she wept and was filled with joy.

 

Later, she visited another friend who was also a Zen teacher. They were sitting and drinking tea in the afternoon when the conversation took a turn and the teacher said, “Well, in the end, I’ll die and you’ll die and we’ll be two heaps of ashes. Then where will we meet?”

The poet tried to speak but no words came. She couldn’t move her tongue; she couldn’t remember the question.

 

Later, she was traveling with a party of friends and during a warm afternoon she took a nap. When she woke up she understood what her friend had meant. After that she was pretty much happy.