Zen Story: The sound of this lion's roar was deafeningly quiet, but still heard by the lion itself

No matter what the outer noise that tries to deafen us to who we really are, we should always listen to our inner voice; its voice should be the one roaring to us, not kept quiet.

The Zen master, Grehort Zepoghe, was spending some time in the zoo.

He looked at a lion, who looked at him right back, then roared.

The Zen master, immediately thought of this koan.

"What is the sound of a lion's roar under water?"

When he returned to his monastery, he gave his new koan to his students to try to solve.

One student said, 

"There would be no noise, as he is under the water."

Another student said, 

"The lion could not roar under water, his mouth would fill up with water."

Then, they asked him what his answer to the koan was.

He said:

"To the lion, it is still the same lion's roar."

"To others, it is what it is."

"Be like that lion." 

"Be yourself in all environments, under all circumstances." 

"Never lose your voice."

"Never let your roar be tamed."

"Let love roar out of you untamed, as your truth, at all times."

Photo Credit: The photos used in this article were all sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com