One narrow path
Surrounded by a dense forest;
On all sides,
Mountains lie in darkness.
The autumn leaves
Have already fallen.
No rain, but still
The rocks are dark with moss.
Returning to my hermitage
Along a way known to few,
I carry a basket
Of fresh mushrooms
And a jar of pure water
From the temple well.
- Ryokan (1758-1831)
The question clear,
The answer deep,
Each particle,
Each instant a reality.
A bird call shrills
Through the mountain dawn:
Look where the old master sits,
A rock in Zen.
- Sodo (1841–1925)
Unaware of illusion
Or enlightenment,
From this stone I watch
The mountains, hear the stream.
A three-day rain has
Cleansed the earth,
A roar of thunder split the sky.
Ever serene are linked phenomena
And though the mind’s alert,
It’s but an ash heap.
Chilly, bleak as the dusk
I move through,
I return, a basket brimmed
With peaches on my arm.
- Genko (1505)
So taken with
The faultless face and radiance
Of an alluring moon,
My mind goes farther…
farther…
To reach remote regions of the sky.
- Saigyo (1118–1190)
You ask me why I stay
On this blue mountain?
I smile but do not answer.
My mind is at ease!
Peach blossoms
And flowing streams
Pass away without a trace.
How different from
The mundane world!
- Li P’o (701–762)
I climb the road
to Cold Mountain,
the road to Cold Mountain
that never ends.
The valleys are long
and strewn with stones;
the streams broad
and banked with thick grass.
Moss is slippery,
though no rain has fallen;
pines sigh,
but it isn’t the wind.
Who can break from
the snares of the world
and sit with me among the white clouds?
- Han-shan |
