Just to see how deep you all can get...

Here is a wonderful 3-line Zen Buddhist poem. I would enjoy it if you all would give your responses, giving what you interpret the poem to mean. This is just so I can see how you all think, and...it's just for my own entertainment :
I chop wood;
I carry water;
This is my magic.

[Edited on 25-5-2003 by LOBO]

I chop wood to give me strength and force to make it through life as a physical being..
I carry water, and the water is my spirit..my soul, that I sprinkle with every step I take, for others to step through and absorb or taste..
This is my magic that I leave for those who are willing to take and use in little pieces as they make their way through the world..
Magestica

*Ohh dear I can feel the laughing already*

Good topic LOBO~

Wow magestica, killer response. Nothing like what I got. I took it in a much different way. I chop the wood that builds my house (I make the life I live), I carry the water that feeds my family and friends (I help them through their lives and they help me too,) and this is the magic that I create.

I'm a hermit who lives near a stream in the forested Rocky Mountains and smokes 'shrooms (that's the magic part!).

As with most "poems" of this type, it is just an expression of the authors distaste for arrogance and how the world at large views power. A lot of people think that in order to be powerful, you have to be a king, a ruler, a great warrior, a killer, a or something of the sort.

Many of the more enlightened people know the truth. Just like Christ, they knew that real power comes from knowing yourself, and what you can do. They know that even the simplest things that most people take for granted (Chopping wood, carrying a bucket of water) can be seen as a proof of one's power. Think about it.

You are taking a piece of earth, something strong and permanent on the landscape like a tree...and chopping it down. You posses "power" over the earth.

You look down at the river, and with a bucket made from the wood you chopped down, you can scoop up that water and lay claim to it, showing you also have power over the earth's liquid life force as well.

So while others may thing, gee, to be powerful I must be a leader of men or a great warrior, the wise man knows true power comes from understanding the impact one man can have on his environment.

[Edited on 26-5-2003 by Kai-Raega]

It is a message from Yoda!!!

Here is what it means when the anagram is uncoded...

I DO COW HOP
RACE WAR I TRY
CIA IS MY MIGHT

I have revealed the message as this...

Yoda has created a new dance (cow hop) which will lead to a race war, and he is the secret head of the CIA!!!!

WARN EVERYONE NOW!!!

ROFLMAO!!!

ouch my ribs

Originally posted by Netchicken
It is a message from Yoda!!!
I DO COW HOP
WARN EVERYONE NOW!!!

HAHAHA!!!

Thats good stuff

[Edited on 26-5-2003 by ADVISOR]

"I chop wood;"
"I carry water;"
"This is my magic."

This individual has magical thinking regarding his self-statements. Administer Geodon I.M. PRN.

Well, I always have a flashback to Grasshopper and Master Po when I come across this old Chinese apple-sauce.
It's very famous, of course and is allegedly the work of Wu Li, perhaps a thousand years ago.
The usual explanation -at least as far as I am aware, is that (a) one can find inner peace through the most humdrum tasks and (b) that enlightenment doesn't mean one's life is changed but rather than one's perception of life is changed: work will still be there but it will have acquired a new significance.
The way it's posted here misses out the key point of the usual version: "before enlightenment...after enlightenment" - but that's nothing new on ATS.

I did a quick survey of a dozen of our CHinese staff and no one had ever heard of of it! So, it's very chop suey: looks Chinese but is very much for Western consumption.

The author of this simple poem sees everything in the physical world as a miracle. It is magic to him because our essence, to him, is of a spiritual existence that is manifesting through a physical body, and rejoicing in the simple beauty of everyday chores. And if we can rejoice in something as magnificent as the human body engaged in the mundane, we can certainly aspire to a little better health, comfort, prosperity, and fulfillment within ourselves.

Originally posted by Netchicken
It is a message from Yoda!!!

Here is what it means when the anagram is uncoded...

I DO COW HOP
RACE WAR I TRY
CIA IS MY MIGHT

I have revealed the message as this...

Yoda has created a new dance (cow hop) which will lead to a race war, and he is the secret head of the CIA!!!!

WARN EVERYONE NOW!!!

I retract my earlier statements, I simply LOVE this explanation.

May the force be with you?

Since I am actually a carpenter. I fell I must clarify this statement.
I Chop Wood
I Carry The Water
This is my Magic.

I build , therefore I am a builder.

note, I carry the water to the Concreate Mixer.
The magic is in the creation. Plus concreate is hard.......Hard to make, if you don't know how. Maybe to some it seems magical.

Basically to me this is work.

awareness.

William: I see you read Ted Andrews' books, too?

Great responses, everyone! That shows that you're not all a bunch of bickering idiots, and that you have a philosophical side to you, too

Well...'cept for maybee you, Netchicken. That was just insane; but hilarious nonetheless

I think of more of these for you guys in the future!