No Water No Moon

Description

No Water No Moon Zen says the ordinary mind is the enlightened mind. You don’t go anywhere; the ordinary world is the paradise. Here and now, everything is there. You need not go any- where.

Osho uses these Zen stories to illustrate that holding onto the unessen- tial is the barrier to our inner nature; losing needless attachments is a way to realization.

In the title story, the nun Chiyono is carrying a pail of water and gazing at the reflection of the moon in the water. The pail starts to fall apart. She tries desperately to hold it together but fails. The water pours out, and the reflection of the moon disappears. As the bucket falls apart, so do her mental constructs, and she realizes her inner self.

These Zen stories on the surface seem absurd, but the meaning of Zen cannot be stated in words; it can only be implied by parable. Osho employs these parables to elucidate the foibles of common thinking and to suggest ways to become aware of who we really are.