Because you grasp labels and slogans,
You are hindered by those labels and slogans,
Both those used in ordinary life and those
Considered sacred.
Thus they obstruct your perception of objective truth,
And you cannot understand clearly.
~ Linji (d. 867)
the force be with you
the tao te ching
this is the way
the peace of our fathers
all love, all ways
the labels meant to describe, ultimately distract
In the far distance rises Hua Shan with its great precipices and awesome chasms.
Out of a gorge rush waters of turquoise blue cascading over white stones.
Perched on the cliffs are shrines to the mountain gods who send fertile rains to the people on the plains.
In the temples Taoist monks read the sacred texts and burn incense on the altars.
Their features are weather-lined and their gowns patchwork.
For decades they seek the path of truth; they watch drifting clouds, the fathomless depths, the passing of time.
These followers of Lao-tzu know of the Great Ultimate; they peruse sacred writings.
Their minds are not bound to either master or book, but schooled by the mountain and enlightened by the Way of Nature.
~ Hua-shan chih
@Arkturos saidPilgrims endure the climb and rest in the sanctuaries. Their strength and courage is renewed by the telluric powers of the great heights. Some pilgrims kept diaries, and others wrote poems and essays which have been handed down to us though written long ago. On doors and walls some scribbled their thoughts which have weathered away.
Make of this post what you will.
I imagine you're going to anyway.
-- Kevin Eleven
In our turn we climb the mountain in the tracks of those earlier pilgrims, recording what we heard of them and what they wrote. Some were great scholars, but most were simple people. All bear witness to the beauty of the Mountain which filled their heart.
~ Hua-shan chih
https://www.dailyzen.com/
In every human heart
There is one volume
Of the book of Truth,
But all is packed away
On the shelves, pages here
And pages there.
In every human heart
There is one score
For the music of Truth,
But all is buried
Under popular songs
And glamorous dances.
The person who would study
Should sweep away externals
And immediately seek
What has been there
From the beginning.
Only then will he be
Able to put this Truth to use.
~ Hung Ying-ming
Autumn night, unable to sleep,
I leave my tiny cottage.
Fall insects cry under the rocks, and
The cold branches are sparsely covered.
Far away, from deep in the valley,
The sound of water.
The moon rises slowly over the highest peak;
I stand there quietly for a long time and
My robe becomes moist with dew.
~ Ryokan (1758-1831)