How would you interpret the lessons from this short teaching from Chuang Tzu?

Question

can you put this in your own words?

if a man is floating down the stream in a boat and he is suddenly bumped into by another boat with another man in it, he may get upset and shout or threaten and insult the other man.

yet if the same man was bumped into by an empty boat he would look up and have very little reaction to this situation. empty your own boat.

Answer 1

You believe that a man does what he does as a matter of his own will, and so you take offense when it comes in conflict with your own, and yet he is simply carried on the current of life, as are you.

Recognize that everyone is doing the best they can; the only thing they can do, given who they find themselves to be at any given moment. This realization is the end of judgment of other as well as self.

Answer 2

Like any good story, this one has a side and then a side.

A friend of mine stared a question recently, "When you feel gratitude for something in your life but there is no person or thing to express this gratitude, What do you do?". The question brought the realization that I personify natural events such as weather or luck, even to the point of loving my car. Personification is to put your characteristics on to someone or something else. When I look up at the rain with a momentary touch of anger, whom am I angry at?

Chuang Tzu does not say empty the other boat. He says empty mine. Will I be angry at the rain when it falls and I have so emptied myself?

Like any good story, this one is uncomfortable for me to hear.

Answer 3

We cannot control the reactions of others, but we can reduce the potential for negative impact. Every situation can be seen from a multitude of different perspectives, in the case that the first man in a boat appears to blame the impact on the other, he could just as easily apologised to the other man, just a question of which perspective we choose to view from.

Answer 4

The man bumped into by the empty boat realizes that the boat is lifeless, that it did not "choose" to bump into him, while the other one is guided by a man, who does have ability to choose.

example from C.S. Lewis' book (not exact): Likewise, if someone walking trips on something on the ground and bumps into you, if you are aware of that when he says "I'm sorry" it won't bother you. However, if the same person comes along and bumps into you on purpose, you would likely get angry.

He says "empty your boat". Is that the basic Buddhist philosophy, since you are angry simply get rid of your perception of ownership of the boat and you will not get angry?

Answer 5

As a player of taiji, I have spent a lot of time trying to find the wisdom in Taoist teachings, which can at times seem rather vague and hard to interpret. However, this particular Chuang Tzu story/parable is rather easily interpreted into driving in rush hour, in my opinion.

I used to get very angry when driving at rush hour. Every idiot seemed determined to cut me off, slow me down, and generally interfere with what I was trying to accomplish; get to my destination in the most efficient manner possible. The only problem was, my anger was only impacting upon myself! These people were blithly going on their way not knowing that I was building up a huge head of steam because of their actions. So, who was I really hurting? Obviously, myself.

I've finally been able to make my drive, regardless of the traffic or actions of others, a very pleasant experience. I simply let go of my expectations on the behavior of others. I've "emptied my own boat" in other words. I no longer worry about reaching my destination, but rather enjoy the moment. If I get their more slowly, it simply gives me more time to enjoy the music that I like to listen to while driving.

This is more of a Buddhist application of this lesson, though, in which we give up expectation and desire in order to avoid suffering. The lesson Chuang Tzu was passing on was to realize that these people who are "bumping" me have no concept that they have negatively impacted my life. As a matter of fact, the only negativity is coming from me and my interpretation of their actions as somehow being intentionally disruptive in my life! If I imagine all the cars as being controlled by computers rather than humans, in other words being "empty," than I doubt I would be getting angry at them.

The bottom line, it is our own interpretation of events that make them positive or negative within our lives. The Tao is all without duality. It is human perspective that imposes duality upon the world around us.

Answer 6

If you were to yell at an empty boat you would reveal yourself for the idiot you are. Soon men in white coats will come in their own padded boat to take you away.

Answer 7

The difference is that the first boat was manned- the guy could've done a better job steering his boat. The second boat has no one on it so it hit your boat by coincidence. Kind of like birds crapping on your car.

Answer 8

Ha ha! Yes! Not seeing that 'life just happens' and attributing things with a 'purpose' can give one a feeling of being 'got at'!

From there come concepts of personified evil and all sorts of nastiness! Or even being 'chosen' or 'saved'. Which may feel nicer, but in terms of spiritual growth, are just as damaging.
.

Answer 9

Vaporize them! Vaporize all of them! basically kidding yet a number of them do want a real complicated lesson in civility! in case you do no longer basically like the question basically permit it journey! do no longer answer in case you are going to be able to desire to assert rude issues. it incredibly is coming off of me sorting out one among my contacts has been suspended. probably because of the fact somebody pronounced a harmless question that they did no longer like one too many circumstances. this is okay tho. we are having relaxing right here and that they are no longer!

Answer 10

Self importance is the cause of conflict, some one that is empty of self is in accord with the Tao. ~ : )