Parable: Taking a Boat and Losing a Silver Bowl
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Hundred Parables Sutra
Parable: Taking a Boat and Losing a Silver Bowl
Taking a Boat and Losing a Silver Bowl
Once upon a time a man took a boat across the ocean. During the trip, his silver bowl fell into the water. The man had this thought, “I shall now make a mark on the water and leave it as it is. Later on I will come back and retrieve the bowl.”
After traveling for two months, he arrived in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and then continued on to other countries. Whenever he saw a river, he dove into it and started to look around for his missing bowl. People asked him, "What are you doing? He replied, “I lost my bowl sometime ago. Now I am looking for it.
They asked him, ”Where did you lose it?”
He answered, “I lost it when I first set out at sea.”
They asked him further, “How long ago did you lose it?”
He said, “About two months ago.”
They said, “If you lost it two months ago, why are you looking for the bowl here?”
He said, “At the moment when I lost my bowl, I made a mark on the water. The water which I marked is no different from the water here.”
These people continued questioning him saying, “Although the water here is no different from the water which you marked; nonetheless, you lost your bowl somewhere else. How could you expect to find it here?”
Then the crowd all broke out in laughter.
This man is like those of heterodox sects who do not cultivate proper practices. They undergo extreme toil and deprivation due to their mistaken postulation that their “good practices” will bring them liberation. They are just like the foolish man who lost his silver bowl somewhere and tried to retrieve it at another place.