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-- just naturally. All three were capable of doing that, but they started thinking about god-like power: "My God! I don't have god-like power. Certainly I cannot drink the tea. This woman seems to be very dangerous. What is this condition? She has not asked money for the tea, she is offering it free -- `just show your god-like power.'"
And because none of the three could manage to be spontaneous, she said, "THIS SILLY OLD WOMAN WILL SHOW YOU HER FULL POWER. JUST WATCH!" -- perhaps in watching you may arrive to your own god-like power -- AND SHE TOOK THE TEA, DRANK IT UP, AND DEPARTED.
Nowhere in the world have such strange stories happened. And they are not stories, but historical incidents.
ONE DAY, JOSHU VISITED HIS BROTHER MONK'S LECTURE HALL. HE STEPPED UP TO THE PLATFORM, STILL CARRYING HIS WALKING STICK, AND LOOKED FROM EAST TO WEST AND FROM WEST TO EAST.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?" ASKED THE BROTHER MONK.
"I AM MEASURING THE WATER," ANSWERED JOSHU.
"THERE IS NO WATER," SAID THE MONK, "NOT EVEN A DROP OF IT. HOW CAN YOU MEASURE IT?"
JOSHU LEANED HIS STICK AGAINST THE WALL AND WENT AWAY.
A very strange anecdote ... but Joshu is using the word `water' in the same way as you would say the `water' of a diamond. There is not a single drop of water in a diamond. But its shining nature, its very diamond-ness ...
Joshu said, "I have looked from east to west, from west to east. I am trying to measure the water of your temple, of your people, of you." But the brother monk could not understand the language, that `water' is used for something other than water -- your eyes are of a certain water, your individuality is of a certain water, just as diamonds are of a certain water. Their value is judged by their water: how clean they are, without any dirt, without any flaw. If you can see that the diamond has no flaw, its value is higher. The value depends on the water.
And I can understand Joshu, because when I see people I also see: how much water, how much value is this diamond? Is there purity, is there love, is there trust, is there a possibility of blossoming into a flower? Is there life in abundance?
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