up. Who did she think was going to wash these
dishes, her mother? Did she think we were all her
slaves? I was really getting into this. I was thinking,
“I’ve known her for a long time, and everyone thinks
she’s a senior practitioner, but actually she might as
well have never meditated for the way she’s so in-
considerate of everybody else on this planet.”
When I got to the sink, I looked at the plate, and
the name on it was “Pema,” and the name on the cup
was “Pema,” and the name on the fork was “Pema,”
and the name on the knife was “Pema.” It was all
mine! Needless to say, that cut my trip considerably.
It also stopped my mind.
There’s a Zen story in which a man is enjoying him-
self on a river at dusk. He sees another boat coming
down the river toward him. At first it seems so nice to
him that someone else is also enjoying the river on a
nice summer evening. Then he realizes that the boat
is coming right toward him, faster and faster. He be-
gins to get upset and starts to yell, “Hey, hey, watch
out! For Pete’s sake, turn aside!” But the boat just
comes faster and faster, right toward him. By this
time he’s standing up in his boat, screaming and
shaking his fist, and then the boat smashes right into
him. He sees that it’s an empty boat.
This is the classic story of our whole life situation.
There are a lot of empty boats out there that we’re al-
ways screaming at and shaking our fists at. Instead,
Empty Boat 113