Many Moons ago I Read a Poem by Lao Tzu -- Empty Boats

He is also known as Chuang Tzu and of course Thomas Merton is involved. Thomas Merton was the translator of the Poem...

Being humble

If a man is crossing a river and an empty boat collides with his own skiff,
even though he be a bad-tempered man he will not become very angry.
But if he sees a man in the boat, he will shout at him to steer clear.
If the shout is not heard, he will shout again, and yet again, and begin cursing.
And all because there is somebody in the boat.
Yet if the boat were empty, he would not be shouting, and not angry.

If you can empty your own boat crossing the river of the world,
no one will oppose you, no one will seek to harm you....

Who can free himself from achievement, and from fame, descend and be lost amid the masses of men?
He will flow like Tao, unseen, he will go about like Life itself with no name and no home.
Simple is he, without distinction. To all appearances he is a fool.
His steps leave no trace. He has no power. He achieves nothing, has no reputation.

Since he judges no one, no one judges him.
Such is the perfect man:
His boat is empty.
(20:2, 4, pp. 168-171)

The man who has some respect for his person keeps his carcass out of sight, hides himself as perfectly as he can.
(23:2, pp. 187)

Link to Poem

Strange, when I read the poem long ago I felt I understood on a deep level what it meant. The same way I felt about "green eggs and ham"; I would use the term as a shorthand to remind myself to not take myself too seriously. But who will truly empty their boat completely.

I like the feel of a good canoe floating on a lake or pond. You can lie in the bottom the ribs of the canoe pressing against your back and float. However it's hard to steer in that position. I don't think I would try lying down in the canoe in a river.

But I digress the point is to attempt to be an empty boat.

WOW... It says nothing about burning boats...