Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. the moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.

Enlightenment does not divide you, just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder enlightenment, just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky. The depth fo the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dewdrop, and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky.

- Dogen, quoted in Enlightenment Unfolds



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Flowers in the sky.
Flowers on Earth.
Lotuses bloom as Buddha's eyelids.
Lotuses bloom in man's heart.
Holding gracefully a lotus in his hand,
the bodhisattva brings forth a universe of art.
In the meadows of the sky, stars have sprung up.
The smiling, fresh moon is already up.
The jade-colored trunk of a coconut tree
reaches across the late-night sky.

My mind, traveling in utmost emptiness,
catches suchness on its way home.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh,
Call Me By My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh

'Although its light is wide and great,
the Moon is reflected in a puddle one inch wide.
The whole Moon and the entire sky are reflected
in one dew drop on the grass."
~Dogen

The Shield That Was Touched By Pretty Mouth - by N. Scott Momaday

Waterstrider was the son of Crooked Back, and like his father he was crippled from birth. He could not stand up straight but must be always bent like a juniper twig. In the time of the spilling moon he kept to himself on the river, grieving over the death of the girl Pretty Mouth, who had been trampled by horses. Enemies came to the river, and Waterstrider frightened them away with his shield, stealing two of their best weapons. His shield was made by Many Magpies, a young man among the shieldmakers.
In the night, in the moonlit water, the girl Pretty Mouth appeared to Waterstrider. She was beautiful and graceful beyond his belief. Her supple body was curved and shone like the moon. She approached upon the bank and stood very close to Waterstrider. She reached out and touched her fingers to the shield. And then the time of Waterstrider's grief was ended.

Buy the Book: In The Presence of The Sun: Stories and Poems