Someone said,

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End."

But I'm going to say, "You are the source1x"

Here is a story about Zen master Lin Chi (? ~867 CE).

He used to say,

" While I was young I was very fascinated by boating. I had one small boat, and I would go on the lake alone. Once it happened that with closed eyes I was in my boat meditating on the beautiful night. One boat came floating downstream and struck my boat.

My eyes were closed, so I thought, 'someone is here with his boat, and he has struck my boat.' Naturally anger arose. I opened my eyes and I was just going to say something to that boat man in anger. Then I realized that the boat was empty.

To whom could I express the anger? There was no man in the boat. That boat was a mere empty. That was just floating downstream, and that had come down and struck my boat.

There was no way to explode my anger on an empty boat1x

So I closed my eyes, but my anger was there, but could not find the way out1x

I had to draw backward with the anger. That moment, I realized that I was the source of the anger . . .. An empty boat taught me the source of my anger. An empty boat was my teacher.1x

And now, if someone comes and insults me, I laugh and I say,

'This boat is also empty.'"

Hate or love or anything is coming from your source.

So do not move to the other, move to the real source, move to your inner, move to within you1x

When you love someone; the ordinary feeling is that someone is the source of your love.

But that is not true.

Someone is just a screen on which you project your love.

You are projecting your love upon someone, so someone is just a screen.

Why?

If someone is the source of your love then everyone will feel loving toward someone like you.

But someone is not the source, only you project your love to someone.

By Sang-Bong Lee, Ph.D.
Philosopher & Poet

All rights reserved and copyrighted 2000. Reprinted by permission of Sang-Bong Lee.