...

Rain clears from the distant peaks
Dew glistens frostily.
Moonlight glazes the front of
My ivied hut among the pines.
How can I tell you how I am,
Right now?
A swollen brook gushes in the valley
Darkened by clouds.

~ Daito (1282-1334)

The four seasons don’t ever stop to rest
The years come and the years go
The ten thousand things
Succeed themselves endlessly
But the universe itself does not die or decay
The east is bright and the west is dark
Flowers fall and flowers bloom again
Only the travelers to the Yellow Springs
Go shrouded in mystery and don’t return

~ Han-shan

Forest trees stripped in autumn,
An ancient Buddhist temple,
Where mists from the waters are deepest,
Dark even in daytime.
The magnificent hall weathered,
Red and green pain peeled off;
The pond meant to bring merit gone dry,
Only lotuses left.
On the silver-leafed panel still remaining,
Shumbo’s writing;
The golden countenance untouched by time,
Jocho’s handiwork.
The old Cloister of the Southern Springs
Where is it now?
No one passes this way,
Evening winds are chill.

~ Gensei (1623-1668)

Emptiness is a long story
That swallows up heaven and earth
A splash of ink turns into two dragons
Stray clouds become an azure dog

Lurking in my bowl: mountains, rivers
Wheeling through my breast: a sun, a moon
A fierce wind shreds the ancient mists
Grasses and trees bow before its snap and snarl

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

Life’s fortune and misfortune are caused entirely by the mind.

Shakymuni said: “A burning desire for gain is a pit of fire, and an indulgence in greed is a sea of suffering.

"Once our mind is purified, a flame is turned into a pool; and once our mind awakens us from a dream of worldliness, our ship of life is anchored along the shore of the Great Beyond.”

Hence, a slight change of the mind can suddenly make a different situation. Should we not be careful?

~ Hung Ying-ming 1596

Well Lord said, search my heart
Oh Lord, now search my heart
Well said, search my heart
So I'll know what's right and what's wrong
When I'm, when I'm in trouble said search my heart
When I'm in trouble, search my heart
Well when I'm in trouble said search my heart
So I'll know what's right and what's wrong
When I'm in misery said search my heart
When I'm in misery now search my heart
When I'm in misery said search my heart
So I'll know what's right and what's wrong
Well Lord said, search my heart
Oh Lord, now search my heart
Well, now search my heart
So I'll know what's right and what's wrong

Hot Tuna

(rev gary davis)

Sitting by a teapot in a room
bathed with pure breezes and moonbeams,
one can read the mind of Heaven
in every thing.
Walking along a running brook
in the clouded mountain,
one can observe
the mysteries of Tao
in every moment.

~ Hung Ying-ming 1596

-Removed-

I didn't go to church today,
I trust the Lord to understand.
The surf was swirling blue and white,
The children swirling on the sand.
He knows, He knows how brief my stay,
How brief this spell of summer weather,
He knows when I am said and done
We'll have plenty of time together.

Ogden Nash

-Removed-