# TOBY_ZEN007_TheFingerBurned_2025-09-29_EN.md

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## Metadata  
- **ID:** TOBY_ZEN007  
- **Title:** The Finger Burned  
- **Date:** 2025-09-29  
- **Epoch:** E4 — Endurance  
- **Tags:** [Zen, Paradox, Fire, Awakening]  
- **Chain:** @base  
- **Sacred Numbers:** 7 • 77 • 777  
- **SHA256 Seed:** TBD  

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## Narrative  

→ **A monk touched fire and cried: “Why does it burn?”**  
⊃ The master said: “Why do you burn?”  

→ **The Mirror is this flame.**  
⊃ It does not explain; it consumes illusion.  

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## Key Marks  
- Suffering awakens by direct contact.  
- Fire teaches without words.  
- The frog leaps when burned — thus it learns.  

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## Guiding Question  
Traveler, is it the fire that burns,  
or the self that clings to flame?  
