into the well
a silent pebble falls
and finds a voice
a body sinks;
the body's echo climbs
into the light
who cast the stone
whose is the well
who waits for the reply?
The poem stands without the 3rd stanza koan, and stands as well without 2nd stanza commentary. Just as meditation stands without teacher and without guide — merely those who have practiced before, who say "The Well-Lit Path exists". Once that truth is known, you find your own way. And once you find your own way, you are one who has gone before.
It is the same in business, the same in child-rearing, where in our culture we find no mystery, because we look outward, and because we accept as facts the cultural rules that govern our lives. The inward gaze is not mysterious, but it requires a perseverance and a courage to return, again and again, to accustom the gaze to something that appears dark as night, but is as lit with stars as the sky — requires a curiosity that is as great as inner space itself.
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