™Ryo Suzuki -4™
Sometime ago I attended the meeting of Tai-Chi Chuan instructors and one Zen
monk, who is also one of the Tai-Chi Chuan instructors, gave us a lecture.
I learned the story of "the Chinese Harp with No String" from his lecture. Tao
Yuan Ming, a Chinese poet, was the person who carried the harp with no string
all the time and strolled in the country fields. The poet lived about 1600 years
ago.

One day a farmer asked the poet,"Why do you always carry a harp like that ? You
can't make sounds with a stringless harp, can you?"
The poet answered,"I've already known the spirit of a harp, so I don't have to make
sounds with it."

I learned from the lecture that those who don't understand each other's spirit
wouldn't be able to understand each other however long they talk with each other;
however, those who can trust each other would be able to understand what the
other wants to say, even though they don't talk so much with each other, (in other
words, even though they don't make sounds with a harp).

startled
a turtle-dove flies away:
stillness in the grove
"side-flying dragonfly" by Seiki Ifuku
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