A Master once described the journey to enlightenment
as ‘like filling a sieve with water’. When a woman questioned
this Master on his meaning, he gave her a sieve and a cup,
and they went to the sea, where he asked her to fill the sieve with water.
She poured a cupful of water into the sieve . It was instantly gone .
‘Spiritual practice is the same,’ the Master explained,
‘if we stand on the rock of I, and try to ladle the divine realization in.
That’s not the way to fill the sieve with water, nor the self with divine life.’
He took the sieve and threw it into the sea, where it sank.
‘Now it’s full of water, and will remain so. That’s spiritual practice.
It is not ladling cupfuls into the individuality, but becoming totally immersed
in the sea of divine life.
as ‘like filling a sieve with water’. When a woman questioned
this Master on his meaning, he gave her a sieve and a cup,
and they went to the sea, where he asked her to fill the sieve with water.
She poured a cupful of water into the sieve . It was instantly gone .
‘Spiritual practice is the same,’ the Master explained,
‘if we stand on the rock of I, and try to ladle the divine realization in.
That’s not the way to fill the sieve with water, nor the self with divine life.’
He took the sieve and threw it into the sea, where it sank.
‘Now it’s full of water, and will remain so. That’s spiritual practice.
It is not ladling cupfuls into the individuality, but becoming totally immersed
in the sea of divine life.
~ author unknown
from 1001 Pearls of Buddhist Wisdom
art by Asokan Nanniyode
1 comments:
Beautiful... "It's not ladling cupfuls into the individuality, but becoming totally immersed in the sea of divine life." I know I am so far from this, but this *is* what calls to me from the depths of my being. The Self calling ItSelf back to ItSelf... The True recognition of our True Being... Of course each of us finds that in our own way... _/\_
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