Theos-Talk Archives (January 2003 Message tt00464)

Terrie,
Thanks, your idea's about water reminded me of this work called "The 
River and The
Clouds." I enjoyed it ,maybe you will:

The River and the Clouds
Thich Nhat Hanh
Once upon a time there was a beautiful river finding her way among the hills, 
forests,
and meadows. She began by being a joyful stream of water, a spring always 
dancing and 
singing as she ran down from the top of the mountain. She was very young at 
the time, and 
as she came to the lowland she slowed down. She was thinking about going to 
the ocean. As
she grew up, she learned to look beautiful, winding gracefully among the 
hills and meadows.

One day she noticed the clouds within herself. Clouds of all sorts of colors 
and forms. She did
nothing during these days but chase after clouds. She wanted to possess a 
cloud, to have one
for herself. But clouds float and travel in the sky, and they are always 
changing their form.
Sometimes they look like an overcoat, sometimes like a horse. Because of the 
nature of 
impermanence within the clouds, the river suffered very much. Her pleasure, 
her joy had
become just chasing after clouds, one after another, but despair, anger,and 
hatred became
her life.

Then one day a strong wind came and blew away all the clouds in the sky. The 
sky became completely
empty. Our river thought that life was not worth living, for there were no 
longer any clouds to chase
after. She wanted to die. "If there are no clouds, why should I be alive?" 
But how can a river take
her own life?

That night the river had the opportunity to go back to herself for the first 
time. She had been running
for so long after something outside of herself that she had never seen 
herself. That night was the first
opportunity for her to hear her own crying, the sounds of water crashing 
against the banks of the river. 
Because she was able to listen to her own voice, she discovered something 
quite important.

She realized that what she had been looking for was already in herself. She 
found out that clouds are 
nothing but water. Clouds are born from water and will return to water. And 
she found out she herself 
was also water.

The next morning when the sun was in the sky, she discovered something 
beautiful. She saw the blue sky
for the first time. She had never noticed it before. She had only been 
interested in clouds, and she had
missed seeing the sky, which is the home of all the clouds. Clouds are 
impermanent, but the sky is stable. 
She realized that the immense sky had been within her heart since the very 
beginning. This great insight 
brought her peace and happiness. As she saw the vast wonderful blue sky, she 
knew that her peace and 
stability would never be lost again.

That afternoon the clouds returned, but this time she did not want to possess 
any of them. She could see
the beauty of each cloud, and she was able to welcome all of them. When a 
cloud came by, she would
greet him or her with loving-kindness. When the cloud wanted to go away, she 
would wave to him or her 
happily and with loving kindness. She realized that all clouds are her. She 
didn't have to choose between
the clouds and herself. Peace and harmony existed between her and the clouds.

That evening something wonderful happened. When she opened her heart 
completely to the evening sky
she received the image of the full moon - beautiful, round, like a jewel 
within herself. She had never
imagined that she could receive such a beautiful image. There is a very 
beautiful poem in Chinese: "The
fresh and beautiful moon is travelling in the utmost empty sky. When the 
mind-rivers of living beings are 
free, that image of the beautiful moon will reflect in each of us."

This was the mind of the river at that moment. She received the image of that 
beautiful moon within her
heart, and water, clouds, and moon took each other's hands and practiced 
walking meditation slowly, 
slowly to the ocean.

There is nothing to chase after. We can go back to ourselves, enjoy our 
breathing, our smiling,
ourselves, and our beautiful environment. 

From: http://www.allspirit.co.uk/riverclouds.html

John