01 Dec The nun Chiyono studied for years, but was unable to find enlightenment… (OSHO)
The nun Chiyono studied for years,
but was unable to find enlightenment.
One night, she was carrying an old pail filled with water.
As she was walking along,
she was watching the full moon
reflected in the pail of water.
Suddenly, the bamboo strips
that held the pail together broke,
and the pail fell apart.
The water rushed out;
the moon’s reflection disappeared
—and Chiyono became enlightened.
She wrote this verse:
This way and that way
I tried to keep the pail together,
hoping the weak bamboo would never break.
Suddenly the bottom fell out.
No more water; no more moon in the water
—emptiness in my hand.
Go with emptiness in your hand, because that’s all… that’s all I can offer to you, and nothing is
greater than that.
This is my gift: go with emptiness in your hand.
If you can carry emptiness in your hand, then everything becomes possible.
Don’t carry possessions, don’t carry knowledge, don’t carry anything that fills the pot and becomes the water, because then you will be seeing only the reflection. In wealth, in possessions, in houses, in cars, in prestige, you will see only the reflection of the full moon.
And the full moon is there waiting for you.
Let the bottom drop! Don’t try this way and that way to protect the old pail.
It is not worth it.
Don’t protect yourself, it is not worth it.
Let the pail break down, let the water flow, let the moon in the water disappear, because only then will you be able to raise your eyes towards the real moon.
It is always there in the sky – but emptiness in the hand is needed.
Remain more and more empty, think yourself more and more empty, behave more and more as if you are empty.
By and by, by and by, you will have the taste of it. And once the taste comes, it is so beautiful.
Once you know the taste of emptiness, you have known the very meaning of life.
Carry emptiness, drop the pail of water which is your ego, your mind and your thoughts, and remember:
no water, no moon – emptiness in the hand.
No water, No moon
OSHO
