The Empty Boat
from The Way of Chuang Tzu, by Thomas Merton:
If a man is crossing a river
And an empty boat collides with his own skiff
Even though he be a bad-tempered man
He will not become very angry.
But if he sees a man in the boat,
He will shout at him to steer clear.
If the shout is not heard, he will shout again,
And yet again, and begin cursing.
And all because there is somebody in the boat.
Yet if the boat were empty,
He would not be shouting, and not be angry.
If you can empty your own boat
Crossing the river of the world,
No one will oppose you,
No one will seek to harm you.
Categorised as: Character/Values
That’s a nice one! : )
[...] is an explanation of the Empty Boat parable in my last post. I had debated whether I should include an interpretation when I posted it, [...]