Observation
The Buddha once used the image of a drifting log to teach his disciple Ananda:
Ananda, if a log drifts into the river and does not cling to either bank, does not sink to the bottom, is not seized by a person, is not seized by a spirit — such a log will flow into the great ocean.
The disciple asked: What is “this bank”? What is “the other bank”?
The Buddha answered: This bank is clinging. The other bank is aversion. Sinking is laziness. Being seized by a person is fame and profit. Being seized by a spirit is fear and delusion.
Only through non-attachment does one arrive.
Principle
Attachment is resistance.
We commonly believe that holding tightly to a goal is how we achieve it. In practice, attachment to outcomes distorts our perception — we begin to see what we want to see rather than what is.
The log does not “try” to reach the ocean. It simply does not obstruct the current.
Clarity is not the result of effort. It is what appears naturally when we release what blocks it.
Application
The next time you find yourself forcing something, pause and ask:
Am I responding to reality, or defending my expectations of reality?
Non-attachment does not mean indifference. The log is still in the water — it simply does not fight the current.
You can be fully engaged while not gripping the outcome. This is effort without grasping.
Clinging to neither bank, it flows into the ocean.
This koan is drawn from the Dārukkhandha Sutta in the Saṃyutta Nikāya of the Pali Canon, retold for contemporary practice.