Zenkini Koan

During a Zen retreat there is something called dokusan* where the teaching master meets one on one with each person meditating for a short, private discussion.  I generally never know what to talk about during these sessions; even when I have had unusual experiences during meditation, I didn't need a Zen master to tell me the penguins attacking my feet weren't real.

On this particular day, I was having a vivid memory of the day I decided to start training when Reverend Master tapped me on the shoulder to follow him into the dokusan room.  It seemed as good a topic as any, so that's what I went with.  We discussed that briefly and then the conversation drifted toward the zucchini bread I had brought for the morning break.

"I've always wondered," RM said, "since zucchini plants are so prolific  that people are always giving their squash away, why do they cost pretty much the same as other vegetables when you get them from the grocery store?"  Then he laughed uncharacteristically loud and slapped me on the shoulder with tremendous force.  I pitched forward and suddenly snapped awake, still seated on my cushion in the meditation hall.

*Actually it's the Rinzai Zen tradition that calls it dokusan.  My Soto-flavor zendo calls it, somewhat more prosaically, "spiritual counseling."  We also do the Heart Sutra in English (gasp)!