The Scroll of Hi Nu

A Zen student announces that the ordinary rigors of conscientious Zen practice are impossible for him, and he confronts his teacher with the need to become instantly enlightened. The teacher cannot offer any guaranteed solution to the student's problem, he does, however, offer the student "The Scroll of Hi Nu" which the student accepts.

The student later returns asking for some additional reading material. The student is then given "Selected Fragments from The Scrolls of To Fu," a mythological work allegedly derived from a vast collections of scrolls now considered lost to history. (Experts, when asked about the existence of these scrolls have been known to utter, "I will not dignify this nonsense by even commenting on it.") To Fu is also one of the authors cited in "The Scroll of Hi Nu." To Fu is, according to legend, a discredited poet in ancient China who somehow fails to gain literary fame or romantic love.

The entire work only takes several minutes to read, and, due to its brevity, Zen monks are said to be able to "recite it in a single breath," or, as some have boasted, "between breaths as I'm meditating."