Day 88 · Zen · November 6, 2026

So much for the speech.

Tesshu, a young student, pays a master a visit to show how much he's understood, according to a story in 101 Zen Stories. He explains what his studies have taught him, that nothing really exists, while the master quietly smokes. Then the master hits him with his bamboo pipe, and the student gets angry. The master asks where the student's anger came from if nothing exists. The lecture has run into a small difficulty. You probably give a shorter version of that speech: "I'm over it." It holds up fine until someone mentions the thing again. Say a parent brings it up at dinner: you flinch before they've finished their sentence. Pick the thing you've most loudly announced you're over, and when someone raises it today, hear them out to the last word before you say a thing about being over it.

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The pot pours once a day.

Monday arrives in the morning. One teaching, under a minute, free.

Poured. Monday morning.

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