One day Buddha's disciple Subhuti, in a mood of sublime emptiness, was sitting under a tree. Flowers began to fall on him.
"We are praising you for your discourse upon emptiness", the gods whispered to him.
"But I have not spoken of emptiness," said Subhuti.
"You have not spoken of emptiness and we have not heard emptiness," responded the gods. This is true emptiness.
And blossoms showered upon Subhuti as rain.
Sozan, a Chinese Zen master, was asked by a student: "What is the most valuable thing in the world?"
The master replied: "The head of a dead cat."
"Why is the head of a dead cat the most valuable thing in the world?" inquired the student.
Sozan replied: "Because no one can name its price."
Such enigmatic parables, from the 13th-century Zen Buddhist text Shaseki-shu (Collection of Stone and Sand) and later writings, have long fascinated the non-Buddhist world....
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