-- Hui-chung Expels His Disciple --

Tan-hsia paid a visit to Zen Master Hui-chung, who was taking a nap at the time. “Is your teacher in?” asked Tan-hsia of an attending disciple. 
“Yes, he is, but he does not want to see anyone,” said the monk. 
“You are expressing the situation profoundly,” Tan-hsia said. 
“Don’t mention it. Even if Buddha comes, my teacher does not want to see him.”
“You are certainly a good disciple. Your teacher ought to be proud of you,” and with these words of praise, Tan-hsia left the temple.
When Hui-chung awoke, Tan-yüan, the attending monk, repeated the dialogue. The teacher beat the monk with a stick and drove him from the temple.

------------------------!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!----------------------------
Boasting is a sign of ego.
But you are very strange. You can make even religion an ornament of your ego. You boast too much about your Guru, about your so called religion and your so called God. The bigger they are the greater you become. A Buddhist says - My Buddha is the greatest one, a Christian says - My Jesus is the greatest one. And I have seen similar dogmas in all the people of all other so called religions. And similar is the case of the followers of all political leaders too, without any exception. But what I see is that the emphasis is not on The Buddha or The Jesus or anyone else. Emphasis is on 'My'. Whatever is mine, must be great. This is ego. And the more ego, the more anger - the more hatred. This is why there have been so many wars on the name of Religion. This seems to be very strange, very irony! There are so many religions, so many dogmas in the world. Ideally, the world should have become very peaceful. But the case is just opposite.
No! Zen doesn't suggest you to become boastful of Zen. Zen doesn't even allow you to become a clinger of Zen. Zen says only one thing : Meditate. Be a witness of your mind - Be a witness of your ego! And suddenly it starts melting...
Meditate. If you don't meditate and just take an oath that now onwards I won't be so egotist then it would not help. The biggest problem with ego is that it doesn't allow you to meditate, because it is very painful to see that you are an egotist. Meditate! Zen says only one thing : Meditate!