A few days ago, I wrote in the ‘Reflections’ series on the facebook page:
Reflections #6: “Shine bright as a dust-free mirror; flow like water; respond like an echo”
First, a small note on the ‘Reflections’ series for the benefit of readers who are not on Fb:
To some, they are feel-good messages
To some, they are a memory of sayings heard long ago, but which carry new meaning now
To some, they are a reason to yawn
To some, they are a reason to smile
To some, they are like hot coals and ice cubes that tease and torment, till their essence is mastered.
Guess what? It’s perfectly fine, whichever way you experience them.
Right; so let’s take a look at Reflection #6:
“Shine bright as a dust-free mirror; flow like water; respond like an echo”
The analytical mind can understand each phrase independently
The intuitive mind can understand them all together.
(source: mowglimurals.com)
Here’s a brief parable from Zen, that might help with your intuitive understanding.
Stay with the storyline and characters as you read through it.
………………….
Two monks were once traveling together down a muddy road.
A heavy rain was falling. Coming around the bend,
they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash,
unable to cross the intersection.
“Come on, girl,” said the first monk. Lifting her
in his arms, he carried her over the mud,
till they crossed the intersection
The second monk did not speak again until that night
when they reached a lodging temple. Then he no longer
could restrain himself. “We monks don’t go near females,”
he said. “It is dangerous. Why did you do that?”
“I left the girl there,” the first monk said.
“Are you still carrying her?”
………………………
The mind as a dust-free mirror, shining brightly
Not contaminated by conditioning
Not allowing conditioning to stick to mind, dulling its brightness
The mind as a flowing river
One with events as they unfold
Staleness is clinging; and clinging is stagnation; flow is renewal
The mind as an echo
Echoing the other’s state of mind clearly
Without adding or removing anything whatsoever
So… now you got it all together,
“Shine bright as a dust-free mirror; flow like water; respond like an echo”
You can’t explain what exactly it is you got!
Probably, only your heart knows.
Guess what? That’s perfectly fine too.
The Urban Monk diaries 
Dear Urban Monk,
Reflecting on the “Reflection #6”, provoked a few questions …. which are :
1. Does a “dust free” mirror shine bright on its own ? It is the nature of a mirror to reflect light – it has no means of “shining bright ” independantly, since it does not generate any “energy” like the sun … it is more like the Moon, which reflects a part of what it receives ?
2. The mirror has no option to be “dust free” of its own; the dust needs to be cleaned off by those who wish to use it … else it remains “dusty” as ever. The mirror couldn’t care, could it ?
3. Water does not have the capacity to “flow” on its own; it needs certain conditions to flow … gravity, slope, opportunity to escape from confined location etc. Left to its own, it should behave true to its nature – evaporate and rejoin its original source, shouldn’t it ?
4. An “echo” also is a “response”, subject to certain conditions – not capable of occurring unless certain specific conditions are met. (Unless the sound was the quack of a duck – as shown in your picture, which is apparently “echo-less”).
None of these “conditions” seem to be typical prerequisites or metaphors for the ‘Mind”, which seems to be beyond it all …. ?
Regards,
Shoonyata.
Dear O, I agree with all you said :) Now, come and experience it.
Good one monk…the story of your two bretheren was also nice…we carry so much in our minds that it is difficult for it to be a dust free mirror…the baggage is huge as thousands of thoughts cross our minds every day…I heard a story of a person who was asked to carry a glass of water and keep his arms stretched…after few minutes his arm started aching. Within few tens of minutes, his arm became numb…just imagine the load and stretch that we put our mind to and for so many years…which is probably why we have become numb to so many things around us…
Yo Monk,
After going throu this post, my eyes seem a bit cloudy (maybe dust in my spectacles) and my Mind is kinda jumping from one thought to another and BTW i have a strange ringing tone in my ears… maye its the Echo…
Jus joking. Good work.
Luv always..
KK