Only those who are their absolute true selves in
the world can fulfill their own
nature, only those who fulfill their own
nature can fulfill the nature of others.
He who feels punctured
must once have been a bubble.
He who feels unarmed
must have carried arms.
He who feels belittled
must have been consequential,
He who feels deprived
must have had privilege.
Whereas a man with insight
knows that to keep under is to endure.
What happens to a fish, pulled out of a pond,
or to an implement of state pulled out of a scabbard?
Unseen, they survive.
As the soft yield of water
cleaves obstinate stone,
so to yield with life solves
the insoluble:
To yield, I have learned,
is to come back again.
But this unworded lesson,
this easy example,
is lost upon men.
is lost upon men.
(Photos: Ryoanji, a Zen temple garden in Kyoto)
