2013.01.03 07:00 - Nothing exists

The Guardian for this meeting was Storm Nordwind. The comments are by Storm Nordwind.

Wyven Resident: 's current display-name is "Wyven".
Storm Nordwind: Hello Wyven
Wyven Resident: Hello
Storm Nordwind: It is very quiet here this morning. We can chat - or just enjoy the quiet :)
Wyven Resident: Until one of us is inspired to speak :)
Storm Nordwind: Wyven disappeared.
--BELL--
Storm Nordwind: As no one else has turned up, let me tell a short story before I go too, in accord with the theme of the week...

Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.

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."

Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry. "If nothing exists," inquired Dokuon, "where did this anger come from?"
 

as told in "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones", Paul Reps (1957)