Nyodai’s enlightenment poem

Nyodai’s poem

With this and that I contrived

And then the bottom fell out of the bucket.

Where water does not collect,

The moon does not dwell.

Explanation

The first line refers to all the thoughts we have about reality and ourselves. The second line means such thoughts are emptied out of the mind. The third and fourth lines, whilst the moon ordinarily denotes Buddha-nature, here, in the context of her experience, is a self-reflection. It, therefore, points to the state of mind and existence which occurs as the result of there being no opportunity to ‘collect’ or ‘dwell’.

With the water typically symbolising the mind, the third line means, ‘where the mind does not collect’. Together, with the fourth line, it means, ‘Where the mind does not collect, the (non-)self does not dwell’. Here, it is not implying the self dwells somewhere else; it means there is no place for it to dwell if the mind does not collect (does not cling or have attachments to a conceived self).

In similar fashion to other figures in Zen, Buddha-nature is merely alluded or pointed to; here it is not clear without knowing it is what she realised and is pointing to. Someone who mistakes the reflection of the moon for the moon, is preoccupied with the literalness of Nyodai’s realisation, caught up in the appearance. For example, how it seems like an ordinary incident of a bucket breaking. What could possibly be realised from this? If we don’t see what she sees, if our ‘old bucket’ has not given way to the vanishing and emptying of the water and reflection of the moon, it cannot be perceived.