Category Archives: buddhism

Mostly a collection of poems that I find to be inspirational. Let ‘er rip!

Hui Yung (332-414 )

Translating Sutras

We go on unwinding the woof
from the web of their meaning :
words of the Sutras
day by day leap forth .
Head on we’ve
chased the miracle
of Dharma :
here are no mere scholars .
Moon Sitting
High mountain cascades froth .
This wild temple owns few lamps .
Sit facing the glitter
of the moon: out of season
heart of ice .

Wind and Water

a steady wind scours the autumn moon

from a stagnant pool, from the crystal spring

every place pure now . . . just as it is .

why, then, does karma yet coil and bind?

Hui K’o (4th-5th Century)
No me : Dharmas all empty

Death, Life, small
difference .
Heart of mystery’ s
transformation:
know, and see.
The Truth cries out
where the arrow strikes the target .

The Absolute

selfless dharmas are all empty
life and death about alike
the transformed heart knows it all at a glance
truth is in the middle of things .

Seng Ts’an (d 606)
Verses on the Faith-Mind

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences .
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised .
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart .
If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.
When the deep meaning of things is not understood
the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.
The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Live neither in the entanglements of outer things,
nor in inner feelings of emptiness .
Be serene in the oneness of thing s
and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves .
When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity .
As long as you remain in one extreme or the othe r
you will never know Oneness .
Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity ,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of thing s
is to miss their reality ;
to assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality .

*

The more you talk and think about it ,
the further astray you wander from the truth .
Stop talking and thinking ,
and there is nothing you will not be able to know .
To return to the root is to find the meaning ,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source .
At the moment of inner enlightenment
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness .
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance .
Do not search for the truth ;
only cease to cherish opinions .
Do not remain in the dualistic state ;
avoid such pursuits carefully .
If there is even a trace
of this and that, of right and wrong ,
the Mind-essence will be lost in confusion .
Although all dualities come from the One ,
do not be attached even to this One .
When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way ,
nothing in the world can offend ,
and when a thing can no longer offend ,
it ceases to exist in the old way .
When no discriminating thoughts arise ,
the old mind ceases to exist .
When thought objects vanish ,
the thinking-subject vanishes,
as when the mind vanishes, objects vanish .
Things are objects because of the subject [mind] ;
the mind [subject] is such because of things [objects] .
Understand the relativity of these two
and the basic reality : the unity of emptiness .
In this Emptiness the two are indistinguishable
and each contains in itself the whole world.
If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine
you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.

*

If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discrimination,
the ten thousand things
are as they are, of single essence .
To understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached.
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.
Consider movement stationary
and the stationary in motion,
both movement and rest disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.
For the unified mnd in accord with the Way
all self-centered striving ceases .
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible .
With a single stroke we are freed from bondage;
nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating
with no exertion of the mind’s power.
Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination
are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self .
To come directly into harmony with this reality
just simply say when doubt arises, `Not two. ‘
In this `not two ‘ nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth .

Shill Te (Legendarv, c . 730)

Since I came to this T ‘ien T ‘ai temple
how many Winters and Springs have passed
the mountains and the waters are unchanged
the man’s grown older
how many other men will watch those mountains stand
see the moon’s bright blaze of light
a shining lamp, above the world
full glistening and hanging in vast void
that brilliant jewel, its brightness, through the mist
some people say it waxes, wanes
their’s may but mine remains
as steady as the Mani Pearl
this light knows neither day or night
sermons there are, must be a million
too many to read in a hurry
if you want a friend just come to T’ien T’ai mountain
sit deep among the crags
we’ll talk about the Principle s
and chat about dark Mysterie s
if you don’t come to my mountain
your view will be blocke d
by the others

why sympathize with men like these?
I can remember the taste of that dirt.
cloudy mountains, fold on fold,
how many thousands of them?
shady valley road runs deep, all trace of man is gone
green torrents, pure clear flow, no place more full of beauty
and time, and time, birds sing
my own heart’s harmony .
if you want to be happy
there’s no other way than the hermit’ s
flowers in the grove, endless brocade
every single season’s colors new
just sit beside the chasm
turn your head, as the moon rolls by
yet though I ought to be at joyous ease
I can’t stop thinking of the others.
far, far, the mountain path is steep
thousands of feet up, the pass is dangerous and narrow
on the stone bridge the moss and lichen green
from time to time, a sliver of cloud flying
cascades hang like skeins of silk
image of the moon from the deep pool shining
once more to the top of Flowering Peak

Shih Shu (c . 1703 )

the human body is a little universe
its chill tears, so much windblown sleet
beneath our skins, mountains bulge, brooks flow,
within our chests lurk lost cities, hidden tribes.
wisdom quarters itself in our tiny hearts.
liver and gall peer out, scrutinize a thousand miles.
follow the path back to its source, or else be
a house vacant save for swallows in the eave.
as flowing waters disappear into the mist
we lose all track of their passage.
every heart is its own Buddha;
to become a saint, do nothing.
enlightenment: the world is a mote of dust ,
you can look right through heaven’s round mirror
slip past all form, all shape
and sit side by side with nothing, save Tao.

Hsu Yun (1940-195~ )

Sound of the Wind in the Pine s
an Afternoon and Night on Mount Lu
1 .
Courtyard-covering white dew
Moistens hidden orchids .
Leaves fade; a few flower s
Half retain their scent .
The cold Moon hangs alone ;
Nothing happening with people.
Pine wind blows right through :
Night waves cold .
II .
Swell after swell of pinewin d
Comb like waves at sea :
Beat after beat of heavenly musi c
Strummed on cloudy strings .
Midnight, Tao folk
Purify their hearing
And rise alone to burn incense:
Moon full
Just overhead.
Zen heart peaceful and stil l
Inside white clouds .
Autumn floods and spring mountains
Aren’t the same yet .
It’s just the pine wind
Whistles another tune .
Deep night white moon ,
Drizzling already .
Iv.
The mountain is empty ; flute still .
Thought uninvolved.
A pine wind circling the cabin
Calls right through the ear.
Here’s a monk with a talking habit ;
Midnight, the eternal teaching
Preaching `No Birth .’
Brooks in torrent untiring ;
People’s words more and more rare .
Where schemes calm heart ?
Sitting in the lotus,
Wrapped in robes of Zen .
At a Thatched Hut on the Flower Peak of Mount T’ien-t’a i
Sitting with Dharma Master Jung Ching During a Long Rai n
Hard rain, our gathered firewood scant;
Lamp frozen, glimmers not at night .
In the cave, wind blows stones and mud .
Moss engravings weatherstrip rickety door .

Written for the Zen Man Te-jun
at the Great Assembly at Fo-yen

Days long ago do you remember
Making circuits of the Buddha halls?
How could we know the age of Earth,
The Boundless steppes of Heaven?
Chariots of wind I have ridden
And caught tigers on cloud-sprung feet.
Undersea I snared a dragon,
Moonlight streaming through the window.
Outside of time, flowers of wonder bloom,
Stamens touching space.
At sky’s edge moon trees
Breathe laurel perfume.
Again I walk the pure, cool, earth;
Form-taking life thrives in the web,
Upholding the Dharma-king.
Feelings on Remembering the Day
I First Produced the Mind
Drawn some sixty years ago by karma
I turned life upside down
And climbed straight on to lofty summits .
Between my eyes a hanging sword,
The Triple World is pure.
Empty-handed, I hold a hoe, clearing a galaxy.
As the `Ocean of Knowing-mind’ dries up,
Pearls shine forth by themselves;
Space smashed to dust, a moon hangs independent.
I threw my net through Heaven,
Caught the dragon and the phoenix;
Alone I walk through the cosmos,
Connecting the past and its people .