✨ Introduction
✨ In this deeply reflective piece, Master Woo Myung uses the image of a ferryman to illustrate the nature of life, time, and human existence.
🌊 As people come and go—each carrying their own stories of joy, sorrow, and change—the ferryman remains, quietly fulfilling his role.
🌿 Through this metaphor, we see that while human lives are filled with endless narratives, the flow of existence itself remains unchanged, like a river that simply flows.
🌌 This teaching invites us to look beyond our stories and realize the unchanging Truth that exists beyond the mind.
📖 Original Writing by Master Woo Myung
The Ferryman Stands Alone in His Empty Boat
The ferryman alone stands in his empty boat
looking around restlessly,
waiting for someone to come.
He rows his oar,
for people are waiting across the river.
Moments of happiness,
moments of sadness,
moments in marriage –
so many countless circumstances.
Though they treat the ferryman coldly,
he treats them absent of mind.
As those familiar people come and go,
they leave behind their numerous stories.
But the ferryman wordlessly undertakes his appointed duty,
one that he goes about everyday.
Jane who got married and went away a few years back
or Mary and Tom who went to the city a few years ago:
return as they may to their hometown,
only the ferryman remains at his boat unchanged.
Time,
like a calmly flowing river
passes by.
It seems that even the ferryman is getting old
and is finding it difficult to row his boat;
a passenger on board pities him.
How many stories does this river hold?
Those who died while bathing;
those who drowned due to its currents;
those who committed suicide;
those countless people who crossed this river carrying
their stories.
However, only the river flows silently without a word.
Then and now, only the river flows.
Man is like a river in that
as time flows,
the moment passes by.
Man’s mind comes and goes.
He does not know that the source just exists as it is;
all he has are his stories.
All he has are his human stories.
The creations of this world flow on as they are.
But man does not know that
it is Buddha who knows that they flow on as they are.
– Woo Myung
🌿 Reflect at Santa Clara Meditation
At Santa Clara Meditation, this teaching becomes a realization beyond words.
🌊 Life flows like a river,
✨ stories come and go,
🌿 but the Truth remains unchanged.
By letting go of the mind’s stories,
one can return to the source that simply exists as it is.
This is the beginning of true awareness.
