“Sư nhận cúng trăm lượng vàng
Không cảm ơn chẳng ngó ngàng gì tôi”
“Ta trồng ruộng phước ông rồi
Cớ gì ta phải nói lời cảm ơn”
Bắc Phong
(*) Thơ dịch và phóng tác theo một truyện đạo:
Once when Seisetsu was seeing to the rebuilding of part of the monastery where he was teaching, a certain wealthy merchant came with a hundred ounces of gold, saying he wanted to donate it for the reconstruction project. Seisetsu took it without a word.
The next day the merchant came back to visit the Zen master. He remarked, “Although what I gave you was not so great an amount, it was an exceedingly costly donation for me. In spite of that, you didn’t say a word of thanks. Why is that?”
Seisetsu hollered, “I am planting your field of blessings; why should I thank you?”
The merchant was very embarrassed. He apologized and thanked the Zen master.
(Source: Zen Antics by Thomas Cleary, 1993)