Taigu Ryokan - Gratitude and The Nobility of the Essential
“My cracked wooden bowl. After morning meditation, I take my gruel in it. At night, it serves me soup or rice. Cracked, worn, weather-beaten, and misshapen. But still of noble stock”
“Appreciate the basic things in life and don’t take the essential for granted. Nothing is permanent. Life entitles you only to death. ”
“My Cracked Wooden Bowl” by Taigu Ryokan:
This treasure was discovered in a bamboo thicket --
I washed the bowl in a spring and then mended it.
After morning meditation, I take my gruel in it;
At night, it serves me soup or rice.
Cracked, worn, weather-beaten, and misshapen
But still of noble stock!
Taigu Ryokan was a Zen Monk, rumored to have died while in meditation posture. He lived between 1758 - 1831.
One evening a thief visited Ryōkan's hut at the base of the mountain only to discover there was nothing to steal. Ryōkan returned and caught him. "You have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift." The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away. Ryōkan sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, "I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon."
He left behind an accord of this in a Haiku:
The thief left it behind:
the moon
at my window.
#Appreciate the basic things in life. If you take the #essential for granted, you will miss the point. Nothing is permanent. Life entitles you only to death. Enjoy every drop of water, every sunrise, every kiss, every fight, every breath of precious life.