28 Nov Koan 3

“A man of wisdom delights at water” — Confucius

Reflections from slowly stirring water in a pond (as above) are like an everchanging abstract painting. The images we identify are illusions we create.

Water is like the universe: one thing and yet many things.

Water manifests in different shapes (clouds, rivers, oceans) and forms (vapor, liquid, and ice).

Water is interdependent, as a wave cannot be a wave without the sea.

Water is interconnected, from cloud to rain to river to sea.

As drops of water, we fear not rain over us. Together as a flood, water reigns over us.

On water we can calmly float or panic and sink.

While essential to life, water also brings drowning and death.

Sound travels four times faster and further in water than air, though we can’t hear underwater what someone next to us is saying.

Water is odorless and tasteless, yet present in everything that smells and tastes.

Though colorless in a glass, water has a bluish hue which is evident in large bodies of water like the ocean.

Water in lakes and oceans seems impassable, but the easiest path between places is by boat.

Still water is dead-silent. Moving water is alive with sounds.

In a pond, still water is clear and turbulent water opaque.

Seeing ourselves and surroundings in a reflecting pond, we don’t notice the water.

Water is impossible to grasp, but easily captured in cupped hands.

Water is weak, flowing to places of least resistance; unlike fire which destroys all in its way. Yet, water easily extinguishes fire.

While not hard like stone, high-pressure water cuts stone like it’s butter.

Unlike but a few other materials, water expands when it freezes. Thus, a quart of water weighs more than a quart of ice which is why ice floats on water. 

Water symbolizes the cycle of life; born as drops of rain, living together in rivers and seas and disappearing as vapor to form clouds for its rebirth.

Water is what it is whatever it is, but how we see it is a reflection of who we are. A man of wisdom sees water variously. That’s the essence of wisdom.