The Open Hand
A man once requested the Zen teacher
Mokusen Hiki to cure his wife of her stinginess.
Mokusen went to the man’s house and when the man’s wife came before him, he showed her his fist.
“Suppose my hands were always like
this, what would you call it?” he asked.
“Deformed,” said the woman.
Mokusen then opened his hand flat.
“And suppose it was always like this?”
“Deformed,” said the woman.
“If you understand this much, you are
a good wife,” said Mokusen and left.
The woman realized that the master had
been trying to tell her that it was necessary to be both generous and thrifty.
She thus changed her ways.
