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Today I sat before the cliffs
Sat until the mist drew off
A rambling clear stream shore
A towering green ridge crest
Cloud’s dawn shadows still
Moon’s night light adrift
Body free of dust
Mind without a care.

~ Han shan

A single cloud envelops
Ten thousand streamside pines
Before my door,
The flowing water babbles all the time
No matter if it’s day or if it’s night
I snore until the bell across
The ridge ends my blissful dreams.

~ Han-shan Te-ch’ing (1546-1623)



listening to flowing water i glimpse understanding

Like salt in water,
Like pigment in painting,
It is certainly there,
But you don’t see its form;
So is the monarch of mind.
Dwelling inside the body,
Going in and out the senses,
It responds freely to beings,
According to conditions,
Without hindrance, succeeding,
At all it does.

~ Fu Shan-hui (487-659)

When you realize the fundamental,
You perceive mind;
When you perceive the mind,
You see Buddha.
This mind is Buddha;
The Buddha is mind.
If you want to realize
Early attainment,
Discipline your mind,
Regulate yourself.
When you purify your habits
And purify your mind,
The mind itself is Buddha;
There is no Buddha other
Than this mind monarch.

~ Fu Shan-hui (487-659)

If you want to attain buddhahood,
Don’t be stained by anything.
Though the essence of mind is empty,
The substance of greed and anger is solid.
To enter this door to the source,
Sit straight and be Buddha.
Once you’ve arrived at the other shore,
You will attain the perfections.

~ Fu Shan-hui (487-659)

The rich worry about getting poor
For me poverty would be a good year
I followed fate into these myriad peaks
You don’t need a penny here
Thatched eaves beside a racing brook
Cragflowers draping the bamboo fence
In winter, I turn my back to the sun
Come summer, park myself at water’s edge.

~ Shih-shu (17th c-early 18th)

Against the gently flowing spring morning
The arrogant rattle of a passing coach
Peach blossoms beckon from the distant village
Willow branches caress the shoulder of the pond

As bream and carp flash their golden scales
And mated ducks link embroidered wings
The poet stares about; this way, then that
Caught in a web beyond all speaking.

~ Shih-shu (17th c-early 18th)

Study the Way and never grow old
Distrust emotions; truth will emerge
Sweep away your worries
Set even your body aside

Autumn drives off the yellow leaves
Yet spring renews every green bud
Quietly contemplate the pattern of things
Nothing here to make us sad

~ Shih-shu (17th c-early 18th)

Wondering if it’s a storm
I wake in my bed
And hear them:
The leaves that
Couldn’t withstand the storm.

~ Saigyo

To search for enlightenment or nirvana beyond this mind is impossible. The reality of your own self-nature, the absence of cause and effect, is what’s meant by mind. Your mind is nirvana. You might think you can find a buddha or enlightenment somewhere beyond the mind, but such a place doesn’t exist.

Bodhidharma (d. 533)

A dog barks
Amid the sound of water;
A heavy dew stains
Peach blossoms.
In these deep woods,
I see several deer;
At noon along the stream,
I hear no temple bell.
Wild bamboo
Divides grey clouds;
Waterfalls hang
From blue peaks.
No way to tell
Where you’ve gone;
Disheartened, I lean
Against a second, now a third pine.

~ Li Po (701-762)

Mountain sounds carry a chill wisdom
An upwelling spring whispers subtle tales
Pine breezes stir the fire beneath my tea
Bamboo shadows soak deep into my robe

I grind my ink: clouds scraping across the crags
Copy out a verse: birds settling on branches
As the world rolls right on by
Its every turn tracing out non-action

~ Shih-shu (17th c)

The real way circulates everywhere;
How could it require
Practice or enlightenment?
The essential teaching is fully available;
How could effort be necessary?
Furthermore, the entire mirror is
Free of dust; why take steps to polish it?
Nothing is separate from this
Very place; why journey away?

~ Dogen (1200-1253)

Coming or going,
Day or night,
You must just strive to
Face the incomprehensible.

~ Daito (1282-1334)

Dewdrops,
let me cleanse
in your brief,
sweet waters
these dark hands of life.

~ Basho (1644-1694)