Cerita Zen
Publishing the Sutras
Tetsugen, a devotee of Zen in Japan, decided to publish the sutras,
which at that time were available only in Chinese. The books were to
be printed with wood blocks in an edition of seven thousand copies, a
tremendous undertaking.
Tetsugen began by traveling and collecting donations for this purpose.
A few sympathizers would give him a hundred pieces of gold, but most
of the time he received only small coins. He thanked each donor with
equal gratitude. After ten years Tetsugen had enough money to begin
his task.
It happened that at that time the Uji River overflowed. Famine
followed. Tetsugen took the funds he had collected for the books and
spent them to save others from starvation. Then he began again his
work of collecting.
Several years afterwards an epidemic spread over the country. Tetsugen
again gave away what he had collected, to help his people.
For a third time he started his work, and after twenty years his wish
was fulfilled. The printing blocks which produced the first edition of
sutras can be seen today in the Obaku monastery in Kyoto.
The Japanese tell their children that Tetsugen made three sets of
sutras, and that the first two invisible sets surpass even the last.