But after a bit, it becomes evident that the circulation is only in the top of the bucket and clean water is coming in and clean water is going out. Dirty water at the bottom of the bucket is hardly disturbed. He said you can do good, and the clean water may indeed drive out some of the dirty water, but it won t get to the very basis of the personality. Good will come in and good deeds will flow out, but the very basis will remain unchanged. That can lead to some undesirable consequences.
Some good people become very domineering and even murderous.
Then we get crusaders, pogroms and massacres. They say in the Zen tradition, take the bucket and turn it over, so that everything comes out. Then you can give it a scrub and fill it with clean water. In the same way, the teacher said, Simply doing good deeds will indeed change the surface of your life, but won t generally change the basis of your mind. So in meditation, turn the whole thing over, all the thoughts, then it is empty, completely empty.