...

-Removed-

Does one really have to fret
About enlightenment?
No matter what road I travel,
I’m going home.

- Shinsho

Don't forget love;
it will bring all the madness you need
to unfurl yourself across
the universe.
-Mirabai

Don’t seek fame or fortune,
Glory or prosperity.
Just pass this life as is,
According to circumstances.
When the breath is gone,
Who is in charge?
After the death of the body,
There is only an empty name.
When your clothes are worn,
Repair them over and over;
When you have no food,

Work to provide.
How long can a phantomlike Body last?
Would you increase your ignorance
For the sake of its idle concerns?

- Tung-shan

My hut isn’t quite six feet across
Surrounded by pine, bamboos, and mountains,
An old monk hardly has room for himself
Much less for a visiting cloud.

- Shih-wu (1272-1352)

-Removed-

Turn around the light
To shine within, then just return…
Let go of hundreds of years and
Relax completely.
Open your hands and walk,
Innocently

- Xiqian (700-790)

The time has come to devote
Myself to my hiker’s staff;
I must have been a Buddhist monk
In a former life!
Sick, I see returning home
As a kind of pardon.
A stranger here—
Being fired is like being promoted.
The southern sect, the northern sect,
I’ve tried them all:
This hermit has his own school of Zen philosophy.

- Yuan Hung-tao (1568-1610)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

while you embrace it, be cautious of the "i'll do it my own way" thinking
the path exists for a reason

The true basis of the universe is stillness, its real condition, for out of it comes all activity. The ocean, when the wind ceases, is calm again, as are the trees and grasses. These things return to stillness, their natural way. And this is the principle of meditation. There is night, there is day, when the sun sets there is a hush, and then the dead of night, when all is still. This is the meditation of nature.

- Rosen Takashina (1876-1968)

I'm scared of swimming in the sea
Dark shapes moving under me
Every fear I swallow makes me small
Inconsequential things occur
Alarms are triggered
Memories stir
It's not the way it has to be
I'm afraid of what I do not know
I hate being undermined
I'm afraid I can be devil man
And I'm scared to be divine
Don't mess with me my fuse is short
Beneath this skin these fragments caught
When I allow it to be
There's no control over me
I have my fears
But they do not have me
Walking through the undergrowth, to the house in the woods
The deeper I go, the darker it gets
I peer through the window
Knock at the door
And the monster I was
So afraid of
Lies curled up on the floor
Is curled up on the floor just like a baby boy
I cry until I laugh
I'm afraid of being mothered
With my balls shut in the pen
I'm afraid of loving women
And I'm scared of loving men
Flashbacks coming in every night
Don't tell me everything's alright
When I allow it to be
It has no control over me
I own my fear
So it doesn't own me
Walking through the undergrowth, to the house in the woods
The deeper I go, the darker it gets
I peer through the window
Knock at the door
And the monster I was
So afraid of
Lies curled up on the floor
Is curled up on the floor just like a baby boy
I cry until I laugh

~ see if you can guess, before looking it up, which British musician wrote these words

However deep your knowledge
Of the scriptures,
It is no more than a strand of hair
In the vastness of space;
However important seeming
Your worldly experience,
It is but a drop of water in a deep ravine.

- Tokusan (13th c)

I’m free in this cave on T’ien-t’ai:
No seeker here will ever find me.
Han Shan’s my only friend.
Chewing magic mushrooms,
Underneath tall pines,
We chatter back and forth
Of ancient times, and new,
Sighing to think of all the others,
Each on their own way,
Get your heads out, there’s still time!

- Shih-te

Picking autumn plums
my wrinkled hands
once again grow fragrant.

Yosa Buson