A drop in the bucket

[AlanLa]

i am but a drop in the bucket, yet i fill the bucket.

You, too.

[pinoybuddhist]

The drops of water that fill the bucket and the bucket: just us, just this.

[Jundo]

When the nun Chiyono one moonlit night was carrying water in an old pail bound with bamboo. The bamboo broke and the bottom fell out of the pail, and at that moment Chiyono encounters freedom in realization, letting go the struggle. In commemoration she wrote a poem:

`In this way and that I tried to save the old pail,

Since the bamboo strip was weakening and about to break

Until at last the bottom fell out.

No more water in the pail!

No more moon in the water!'

In the Denkoroku, Keizan describes Dogen's "Dropping Body-Mind" this way ...

Once you reach this realm, you become like a bottomless bucket, like a lacquer bowl with a hole punched in it. No matter how much leaks out, it is never empty; no matter how much is put into it, it is never full. Arriving here is called "the bottom falling out of the bucket". But if you think that there is a hair of enlightenment or acquisition here, it is not the Way.

Gassho, J

[AlanLa]

Not to go all lawyer on you, Jundo, but I didn't say what the bucket was filled with

[Jakudo]

`In this way and that I tried to save the old pail,

Since the bamboo strip was weakening and about to break

Until at last the bottom fell out.

No more water in the pail!

No more moon in the water!'

This is wonderful! When I read the last line I laughed out loud and my family thinks I'm losing it. I really needed that.
Gassho, Jakudo.

[Kyonin]

A drop is a universe in itself.

And then again, the universe can fit inside another drop.

Thank you for this post.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Myoku]

Thank you Alan,
I sometimes wished I would be a stream or a well, but I need to acknowledge,
just as you say, I'm only a drop.
Gassho
Myoku

[Daitetsu]

Hi Myoku,

I sometimes wished I would be a stream or a well

You are much more - isn't everything enough?

Gassho,

Timo

[Myozan Kodo]

[Jinyo]

I love that video - it would be great to play it out with Zen master/student.

The circularity of my questions, questions, questions

Gassho

Willow

[Jinyo]

When the nun Chiyono one moonlit night was carrying water in an old pail bound with bamboo. The bamboo broke and the bottom fell out of the pail, and at that moment Chiyono encounters freedom in realization, letting go the struggle. In commemoration she wrote a poem:


In the Denkoroku, Keizan describes Dogen's "Dropping Body-Mind" this way ...



Gassho, J

Thanks for the poem - beautiful and profound

Gassho

Willow