Zen koan: The wood-chopping Zen master chopped wood, for his breakfast.

A short Zen koan about usefulness.

The Zen master, Liefregt Zerpockse used to love to chop up a pile of wood every morning, which he would then deliver to the kitchen area of his monastery, ready for the cook to use to cook their breakfast with on the wood oven there.

The cook asked him one day,

"Here is a koan for you to solve."

"What is more useful, the axe, the wood, or the food, cooked in my kitchen?"

The master smiled, and he said,

"Well, to me, it is true that usefulness works best in connection, and all of these 3 links work together here for me to obtain my breakfast here every morning."

"A good koan connects too. It connects your mind to your heart. You feel the truth, as well as seeing it then."

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