A Haiku

I AM SO POOR.
I WOULD HAVE LOVED
TO GIVE THIS MOON TO THAT THIEF,
BUT I DON'T POSSESS IT.
-Zen Haiku

A Zen master lived in a cottage on a faraway hill, many miles away from the town. One fullmoon night a thief entered. The master became very worried because there was nothing that could be stolen except one blanket, and he was wearing that blanket, so what to do? He became so worried that when the thief came in he put the blanket just by the door and hid himself in a corner.

The thief looked all around but in the dark he couldn't see the blanket -- there was nothing. Dejected, frustrated, he was going to leave. So the master shouted, "Wait! Take that blanket! And I am very sorry, because you came such a long way, the night is cold, and there is nothing in this house. Next time you come please inform me beforehand. I will arrange something. I am a poor man, but I will make some arrangements so you can steal. But have pity on me, otherwise I will feel very upset: you take that blanket -- and don't say no!" The thief could not believe what was happening. He was apprehensive; this man seemed strange, nobody had behaved this way before. He simply took the blanket and ran away.

The master wrote a poem that night. Sitting by his window -- the night is cold, the full moon is in the sky -- he wrote a poem, and the gist of the poem was "What a beautiful moon! I would like to give this moon to that thief!" And tears were flowing from his eyes, he was weeping and crying and feeling, "That poor man came from so far away!”
:)