Gudo was the emperor's teacher of his time. Nevertheless, he used to travel alone as a wandering mendicant. Once when he was on his was to Edo,

There was an old woman in China who had supported a monk for over twenty years. She had built a little hut for him and fed him while he was meditating.

In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves.

Twenty monks and one nun, who was named Eshun, were practicing meditation with a certain Zen master.

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

The master Bankei's talks were attended not only by Zen students but by persons of all ranks and sects. He never quoted sutras nor indulged in scholastic dissertations.

Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life. A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him.