Fishing for the Moon and Other Zen Stories

Fishing for the Moon Long ago, several monkeys lived in a quiet wood. While playing one day, they discovered a well and saw in its depths a reflection of the moon. They immediately reported the wondrous sight to their king: "Something terrible has happened! The moon has fallen into a well!" The monkeys agreed to retrieve the moon by forming a long chain over the well. The first monkey climbed onto a tree by the rim of the well, swung one arm over its largest branch and gave the other to the second monkey, who took it and lent his free arm to another and so on, until they hung close enough to the well. The bending branch creaked under the weight of the monkeys. The last monkey swiped at the moon in the water. As his paw touched the moon in the well, he broke the calm surface of the water and the moon vanished. Simultaneously, the branch broke and all the monkeys fell into the water.

Fishing for the Moon is an illustrated gift pop-up book that features nine classic and centuries-old Zen stories. Beautifully and simply painted in Sumi ink, these spreads cleverly illustrate in 3-dimensional artwork classic Zen parables. Each story ends with a lesson, imparting accessible Zen tenets of how to achieve simplicity and harmony for everyday things for a more joyous, meaningful, and more richly experienced life. Fishing for the Moon is a refreshing and engaging presentation of Zen, and is the perfect gift for not only the Zen enthusiast but readers of all ages interested in these timeless lessons for humanity.