Simple miracle

Once Bankei, a Zen master, worked in the garden. A seeker came and asked Bankey: “Gardener, where is the Master?” Bankey smiled and said: “Outside the door, inside, you will find the Master.”

The seeker came in and saw Bankey, sitting in an armchair, of the same man who was a gardener outside.

- Are you kidding? Free the chair. This is blasphemy. You cannot but respect the Master, said the seeker.

Bankey got up from his chair, sat down on the ground and said: “Now you will not find the Master in the chair, because I am the Master.” It was difficult for the seeker to accept that the great Master was so simple, ordinary. He left ... and missed.

The other day, when Bankey quietly preached, he was interrupted by a priest of another community. This community believed in the power of miracles. The priest boasted that the founder of their religion could, standing on one side of the river with a brush in his hand, write the holy name on a piece of paper held by his assistant on the opposite side. Then he asked: “And what miracles can you do?” Bankey answered: “Only one thing: when I am hungry - I eat, when I want to drink - I drink.”