” At the three-tiered Dragon Gate, where the waves are high,

fish become dragons,

Yet fools still go on scooping out the evening pond water.“

Commentary from Zen Mountain Monastery:

There is a Chinese legend about a great dragon gate though which the mighty Yellow River flows, where the waves at the gate are high and the three tiers of the gate are treacherous. On the third day of the third month when the peach blossoms bloom and heaven and earth are ready, if there’s a fish that can get through the dragon gate then horns sprout on its head, it raises its bristling tail, catches hold of a cloud, and flies away becoming a dragon.

But you see, the conditions have to be right. How are the conditions made ready for us to pass through the gate? No one can predict. Yet they don’t become correct by creation, by will, or intent. When the wind of our mind ceases to blow, when the god of fire truly comes looking for fire, then “the sky can’t cover it; the earth can’t support it.”

Yet fools still go on scooping out the evening pond water.

Somebody watches as a fish leaps free of the dragon gate, is zapped by a lightning bolt, and is transformed into a dragon. Then they hurriedly run down to scoop out some of the water to drink, thinking that will make them into a dragon. It must come from deep within. We can’t live another’s life, practice another’s barriers, realize another’s true nature.

Where do you find yourself? What do you need to do before you can live and die completely, unreservedly? Who is asking? How much does it matter? What are you willing to let go of? These are the conditions. They are real and they come to life when we bring them to life. What is Buddha? Please, find out for yourself…”