Zen Koans Explained: "Announcement"
Zen. Zen. Zen. Zen. Say it with me. Zen. Zen. Zen. Do you feel the word? Do you feel its size? That's ridiculous. And that's what zen is all about. Today's zen koan is somewhere. Can you "find" it?
Tanzan wrote sixty postal cards on the last day of his life, and asked an attendant to mail them. Then he passed away. The cards read:
I am departing from this world. This is my last announcement.
-Tanzan. July 27, 1892
The enlightenment: The attendant took the cards from Tanzan's trembling hand, bowed, and backed out of the room just as his master's eyelids fluttered closed for the last time. Halfway down the hall, the attendant snapped his fingers, spun on his heel, ran back and stuck his head through the door.
"Mail them where?"