Stirring the Waters
The day slowly creeps on through the warm, dense summer air. The branches of the trees are now heavy with leaves and adolescent song birds brought by the spring. From these branches, to the heads of passers by, all seems to sag under the weight of the heat just as the student’s head droops over his studies.
Weeks have now been spent in this heat with the words of teachers past boiling in the student's mind. Restless, he stands to go consult his teacher.
As he approaches the sweetgum tree in the courtyard, he sees the teacher, sitting peacefully in the shade. The entire area around her seems to stand up just a little more than the drooping world. This is probably due to the shade from the broad tree; however, those who had been around this woman before knew that she seemed to make most days a little easier to bare.
His mind still buzzing as it has been all week, the student speaks. Before he can finish his greeting, the teacher simply says: “water”. Assuming she must be hot, the student trots over to a fresh water fountain in the garden and fills a cup so that the conversation may continue.
Handing the water to the teacher, an amused smile breaks across the woman’s face. Then she simply places the cup next to her, waiting for the student to say more. Puzzled he says:
“Master, I can not read these books any longer. I know that it is expected of me to be well versed in the texts we have all taken to mean so much, but my mind simply will not be still. I came here to learn how to calm my mind and since you have had me study like this, even in my most rested, my mind simply will not stop chattering. I see no other way than to refocus on my meditation.”
To this the teacher replies:
“I see now that you misunderstood me when I spoke of water. While water is always nice on a summer day, what you need now the the nature of water. You see, water only becomes still when it is left alone. Furthermore, deep flowing rivers will always appear placid, despite their force. It is true that when one fills their mind with words, stillness can be hard to attain. However, this is due to the words filling your head. When you stir miso, the broth becomes uniformly cloudy. Leave it alone and it will become clear as water. Your studies are no different.
A stirring mind will always become clouded by what is put in it. A still mind will allow the words to sink to the bottom like miso broth. If you wish to find stillness again, simply stop stirring the soup.”
All the while that the teacher was speaking, she was stirring the bowl of well water that the student had brought her, and small grains of sand could be seen spinning on the surface. Once she had finished speaking, she removed her finger from the bowl and the sand began to sink to the bottom, leaving the water clear and reflective.
“Now do you see why I said water when you approached me?”
Comments