Nothing Exists

The young Zen student visited the master.

Desiring to show his attainment, he said: "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received."

The master, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked the student with his bamboo pipe filling him with anger.

"If nothing exists," inquired the master, "where did this anger come from?"

 z