A hundred-foot pole

Once a student went to learn a practice, so the teacher told him to stand at the top of a one-foot pole stuck in the ground and to remain still. When he could do it well without losing balance, the teacher made the pole a foot higher, and so on and so forth.

The student practiced day after day and year after year persistently.The clouds coming in and out of his sight didn't matter; the bird flapping their wings into his hair didn't matter; the wind howling into his ears didn't matter; and it did not matter how tired or frustrated he felt at times. He tried to remain standing still. He made progress one foot at a time and then reached the very high level of cultivation. He stood on a hundred foot pole high up in the air keeping his balance and stillness perfectly.

Here came the master chanting a poem:

To remain still at the top of a hundred-foot pole,

Its entry has been attained yet a state is not all real,

Taking one step forward from the top of a hundred-foot pole,

Then the world in all directions becomes the complete self.

Poem written by Shi Daoyuan in <The Jingde record of the transmission of the lamp> 1004-1007 CE. Translated by Robert Smitheram

Story written by Chiyan Wang, editing credit to Simon Rimbert