The fourth line asks, "How can one grasp the moon reflected in the water?" The moon is in the heavens. If you believe that the moon is really in the water, you are deceiving yourself. A Ch'an story tells of a man who sees the moon in the water and decides to take it home with him. Bucket by bucket, he takes what he thinks is the moon to his house. Once home, he discovers that he has nothing but water.

Believing false enlightenment to be genuine is comparable to grasping at the moon in the water. If you practice until your mind is clear, calm and settled, you may witness beautiful visions and hear wonderful sounds. You may think you are enlightened, but it is just the moon reflected in the water. Genuine enlightenment has nothing to do with lights, sounds and reflections.

You laugh at the absurdity of mistaking the moon's reflection for the real thing, but many of you get excited when you experience something during retreat, and, because you have never experienced anything like it before, you think you are enlightened. To you it is amazing; to an enlightened person, it is nothing more than the moon reflected in the water. Do not be led astray by anything you encounter or experience. Experiences are good, but if you attach to them, they become obstructions to your practice.

On this retreat, most of you have not even seen the moon in the water yet. You are too wrapped up in your wandering thoughts. Your mind is like a hungry ox, constantly straying off the path to feed on tender grass in the fields. Grab the ox by the nose and pull it back to the path. Do not allow it to succumb to the temptation of the grass. It will eat forever if you let it. You must turn your living ox into an iron ox. Iron oxen are never hungry, and so are never tempted by grass.

Be aware. A hungry ox is often lazy as well. After it has filled itself with grass ─ that is, after your mind has spent itself on wandering thoughts ─ drowsiness sets in, and the ox dozes off, only to awaken when it is hungry for grass again. Practice hard and control your ox-like mind.