Saving & Giving

The Zen teacher was living in a temple in the province of Tamba. One of his followers complained of the stinginess of his wife.

The teacher visited the wife and showed a clenched fist before her face.

"What do you mean by that?" asked the surprised woman.

"Suppose my fist were always like that. What would you call it?" he asked.

"Deformed," replied the woman.

Then he opened his hand flat and asked: "Suppose it were always like that. What then?"

"Another kind of deformity," said the wife.

"If you understand that much" finished the teacher, "you are a good wife." Then he left.

After his visit, this wife helped her husband to distribute as well as to save.

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