Weak water three thousand, only take a dipper to drink, there is no previous sentence. This sentence is an excerpt from a quote in Dream of the Red Chamber.
This quote is from Cao Xueqin's Dream of Red Mansions, where Baoyu says to Daiyu, meaning that there are many beautiful women in the world, and I only like you alone in my heart. Therefore, this phrase is also used to compare to the single-minded love for a lover.
Related quotes:
A Dream of Red Mansions, ninety-one: Bao Yu and Dai Yu in order to test each other's state of mind, Bao Dai and the two sit cross-legged, imitating the form of the Buddhist Zen meditation in order to wit language to express their love of fidelity and unswerving. First of all, Daiyu asked: "Sister Bao and hello how are you? Sister Bao before and you, now not and you how are you? Today and hello, and later not and hello how are you? You and her good and she bias and good and how do you?
Bao Sister Bao was good to you in the past, but now she is not good to you, how are you?
Baoyu thought for a long time and said with a big smile, "Let the weak water three thousand, I only take a dipper to drink." Baoyu used this allusion to answer Daiyu's question, meaning that Baochai's good or bad have nothing to do with me, although there are many beautiful women in the world, but I only have you in my heart.
Daiyu knows Baoyu's usual character and doubts whether he can fulfill his promise, so she continued to ask: "The dipper is floating in the water, so what?"; "The water stops the beads from sinking," she said. ; "The water stops the beads sinking, how can I?" Baoyu firmly replied: "Zen heart has been made of mud flotsam, do not dance partridge to the spring breeze." The meaning of this is that I love you heart is like the flotsam and mud base into a bird's nest, and will not flutter with the wind.
Expanded Information
About the story of "Taking only one dipper of the three thousand weak waters"
Buddha asked a man under the Bodhi tree: "In the eyes of the world, you are rich, powerful and have a loving wife, why are you still unhappy?" The man replied, "It is precisely because of this that I don't know what to take." The Buddha smiled and said, "Let me tell you a story. One day, a tourist was about to die of thirst, and the Buddha took pity and placed a lake in front of the man, but the man did not take in a drop of water.
The Buddha was so strange, asked the reason. He replied, "The lake water is very much, and my stomach is so small, since I cannot drink it all in one breath, I might as well not drink a single mouthful." At this point in the story, the Buddha broke into a broad smile and said to the unhappy man, "Remember, you may encounter many beautiful things in your life, but it is enough to grasp one of them well with all your heart. There are three thousand weak waters, you only need to take a dipper to drink."
Weak Water: first appeared in Shangshu - Yugong: "Conducting the weak water to Heoli." Sun Xingyan, "Shangshu, modern and ancient text notes": "Zheng Kangcheng said: 'Weak water out of Zhangye.'" According to the ancient texts, the weak water is also found in the "Historical Records - Dawan Biography", "Han Book - Geography", "Later Han Book - East Barbarians" and Bi Yuan note "Classic of the Mountains and the Sea" and so on.
Drinking with a ladle: It means just drinking a ladle of water.