Woodblock-style illustration of a bare hut window at night: a full autumn moon over dark mountain ridges, with a wooden begging bowl on the ledge below.
Meet the Monk

Ryōkan and the Thief: What a Hermit Actually Owns

A thief breaks into the hut of a Zen monk who owns almost nothing. What follows — a robbery the monk helps along, a three-line poem, and the moon left in the window — is as good a definition as any of what a hermit actually owns.