The Rice Bowl

Once there was a Buddhist monk whose only worldly possession was a wooden bowl. He'd use the bowl to collect coins begging in the streets, then he'd put rice in the bowl and eat, and water in the bowl to drink. 

One day down at the river, the monk was washing his bowl when it slipped from his hands and fell. The bowl hit a rock and broke into pieces. The monk looked at the bowl, then he looked up at heaven, then he said, "Free at last."

Submitted by Al Lee 4/98 from a collection of Zen stories