Chinese Æsop:

In Tang dynasty (618-907 AD), in the land of Tao-chou (now in county Tao in Hunan Province), many of the people are dwarfs; The tallest of them never grow to more than three feet. They were sold in the market as dwarf slaves and yearly sent to Court; Described as "an offering of natural products from the land of Tao-chou." That custom of tribute dwarfish slave to the court has been in existence before Tang dynasty, and the local governor made a great profit of it, but the people suffered great, because that parted men from those they loved, never to meet again! Old men — weeping for their grandsons ; mothers for their children ! One day — Yang Ch'eng came to govern the land as the governor; He refused to send up dwarf slaves in spite of incessant mandates. He replied to the Emperor, "All people of Tao-chou are short, I don't which to chose and send to the court," and he also quoted from the ancient Sacred Books, and said, " Your servant finds in th...

There was once a Chang family, three daughters were all very beautiful and filial, but unfortunately all their husbands had little ailments. The eldest son-in-law had leprosy body, the second had scalp disease, and the third had red eyes disease. Though the affected places were different, they were all itchy scratchy. Three son-in-laws met together, it was quite a spectacular scene. They just couldn’t keep themselves still, especially during the feast, they couldn’t sit still and eat a proper meal, scratching, rubbing or wiggling, until their father was so disgusted and totally lost appetite. Another Chinese New Year festival, according to the customs, their daughters and son-in-laws came to pay visit on the Second Day in the First Moon. They were drinking, eating, merry-making, everything went well except that their father couldn’t tolerate their never stopping scratch, so he warned them that nobody would scratch at the dinner, or else they had to leave, and never allowed to enter...

There was once a woodcutter named Chang, he went to the South Mountain every day to cut wood, and burn charcoal. His father was a charcoal seller, he started to cut wood and burn charcoal with his father when he was a boy, now his hair had turn to grey, his face stained with dust and ashes, his ten fingers are black. He transport charcoal in an ox-drawn cart and sold in the market for the price of a silver coin, which was just enough to clothe his limbs and put food in his mouth. Although he worked very hard, he was still very poor. One morning, he took a break as usual; he sat down under a huge pine tree beside a spring, ate his stale bread, drank water from the spring, and sighed: “Oh, the Spirit of the South Mountain, why I work so hard, I am still very poor. Is it my fate? ” Just then he noticed a hole in the precipice behind the pine tree, a beautiful golden bird standing at the edge of the entrance, look left and right cautiously, then flew away. “That was a strange bird I ...

Wang Yang-ming (王陽明)was born in the eighth year of the reign of Emperor Ch'eng Hua(1472, 明宪宗成化八年), in the ninth month and the thirtieth day, having been carried by his mother for fourteen months. His father’s mother, named Ts’en, in a dream saw a spiritman clothed in dark red silk decorated with precious stones, playing and drumming in the clouds as he brought the child. When she awoke the child was already crying. His grandfather accordingly called him Yün (雲cloud) and the neighbors called the place Auspicious Cloud Loft(瑞雲樓). Early life In the twelfth year of Ch’eng Hua, at the age of five, he was still unable to speak. A passing Buddhist priest beholding him said, "A good child, but unfortunately his name has been made known." Influenced thereby, his grandfather changed his name to Shou-jen(守仁), and forthwith he was able to speak. The boy often secretly repeated the contents of his grandfather s books. When his surprised grandfather asked him how this was possible...

Rinzai was born in Caozhou, and his master was Obaku, who was born in Fujian, in the Tang dynasty. Obaku taught wisdom with his fists. Once, Obaku happened to be in the chapel prostrating himself before an image of Buddha. The Emperor, who thought he had learnt the lesson of Zen idealism, said to him: “There is nothing to be got from Buddha, nothing from the Church, nothing from Man; for nothing exists. What do you mean by praying at your age? ” Obaku answered him: “I seek nothing of Buddha, the Church, or of Man. I am in the habit of praying.” The Emperor said: “What do you do it for?” Obaku lost patience and struck him with his fist. “You rude fellow,” cried the Emperor. “Since nothing exists, what difference does it make to you whether I am rude or polite?” and Obaku struck him again. The Emperor retreated hastily. Once the novice Rinzai came to Obaku and asked him what was the fundamental idea of Buddhism, Obaku hit him three times with his stick. Rinzai fled and presently m...

Baso was a Zen master of the ninth century. One day he was sitting with his feet across the garden-path. A monk came along with a wheel-barrow. "Tuck in your feet," said the monk. "What has been extended cannot be retracted," answered Baso. " What has been started cannot be stopped," cried the monk and pushed the barrow over Baso's feet. The master hobbled to the monastery and seizing an axe called out " Have any of you seen the rascal who hurt my feet? " The monk who had pushed the barrow then came out and stood "with craned head." The master laid down his axe. (The wheelbarrow is here a symbol of the Wheel of Life and Death.)

The first Patriarch of Zen was Bodhidharma, who passed his mantle and alms bowl to the Second Zen Master Shen Guang(神光), then to Seng Can(僧璨)、Dao Xin (道信), Konin ( 弘忍), and then the to the Sixth Zen Master Eno(慧能)。 Eno lived in the seventh century A.D. He lost his parents when he was young and earned his living by gathering firewood. One day when he was in the marketplace he heard someone reading the Diamond Sutra. He asked where such books were to be had and was told “From Master Konin on the Yellow Plum-blossom Hill." Accordingly he went to Konin's Monastery in Anhui and presented himself before the Master. "Where do you come from?" "From the South." "Bah! In the South they have not Buddha in their souls." "North and South," replied Eno, “are human distinctions that Buddha knows nothing of." Konin accepted him as a lay-brother and put him to pound rice in the bakery. Konin was growing old and wished to choose his succes...