When the nun Chiyono studied Zen under Bukko of Engaku she was unable to attain the fruits of meditation for a long time.
At last one moonlit night she 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 was set free!
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!
Photo by Chester Ho on Unsplash
The pail, the bamboo, the water and the moon are symbols in this poem. Can anyone tell me what these symbols mean? What is the inside meaning of this poem?
Probably there are more than one explanations.
For me the picture of the moon in the water stands for the actual assumptions you have about the world. About other people, how life is, what the meaning of life is, etc.
In Germany we call it „Projektion“, like the light coming out of a projector, but the pictures are not real.
The bamboo stripes are your strict and never questioned worldview. The frame you built all over your lifetime, how life is, how life should be. Your explanations, the energy you give into your projections.
Tha water itself is your soul. Free the water, free your soul, and your assumptions about the world will disappear. The water will not end, like a bamboo stripe has an end of lifetime, or the picture of the moon.