Goose in a bottle
unMind, my new book, is a graphical retelling of some of the most powerful spiritual teachings that have emerged from India in the last century. This newsletter is another such attempt at bringing Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Ramesh Balsekar’s advaita teachings to a wider audience.
A soldier visited a Zen monk1. He bowed and sat down. He appeared to be deep in thought. After a while, he addressed the monk, “Master, I traveled a long distance to meet you today. I have not been at peace for some time now. Someone told me a story that perplexed me and the question it raised remains stuck in my head. I was wondering if perhaps you might help me with an answer.”
The Zen monk replied, “I will certainly try. Tell me this story.”
The soldier began:
There was once a farmer who kept his favourite goose in a bottle. The farmer believed that the goose would come to no harm as long as it stayed in the bottle.
The young goose was small and the bottle was big enough for it to move around a little. The farmer visited the goose each day and fed it the choicest portions of food.
A year went by, the goose got big and fat. He could barely fit inside the bottle. There was no space for it to move.
The farmer could sense his pet’s suffering. The bottle that was meant to protect the goose was now its prison.
The farmer was in a quandary. If the goose stayed in the bottle, it would squeeze to death. If the farmer broke the bottle, the glass shards would kill the goose.
The farmer couldn’t bear the thought of seeing the goose harmed.
What should the farmer do? How should he get the goose out of the bottle?
The monk contemplated, his eyes closed. The soldier waited by his side. After a while, the monk asked, “How long did it take for you to get here?”
“Oh, I started yesterday night. It was uphill but the weather was nice.”
“Was it cloudy? Do you think it’ll rain?”
The man replied, “Yes, I could smell rain when I was about to reach the monastery”
“You’re right. I can smell it too. I guess it’s time for tea. Would you like to have some?”
“Yes, thank you, tea would nice.” said the soldier.
They talked for a while. It got dark and it was time for the soldier to leave. He got up and said goodbye. As he reached the door, the monk said to him:
“Hey, look, the goose is out.”
Zen koans are short-story form puzzles that are meant to be an aid to seekers to help them unravel greater truths. For the Zen master, koans are a surgical tool to cut through years of conditioning and reveal to the student what would otherwise take a long time to uncover.
Goose in a bottle is a classic Zen koan. It poses a seemingly unsolvable riddle (How to get the goose out of the bottle?), then it doesn’t answer the riddle but circumnavigates it to ask a more important question -
Why does the master say - Hey, look, the goose is out.
Another riddle. But the answer to this matters.
What do you think? Why did he tell the soldier at the end of the story that the goose is out?
Hint: see the subtitle.
I found this in one of Alan Watts’ talks. Some edits to the original have been made.
Fluidity, beautiful fluidity :)