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To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

-William Blake (Opening Verse from Auguries of Innocence)

The myriad differences
Resolved by sitting,
All doors opened.
In this still place
I follow my nature,
Be what it may.
From the one hundred flowers
I wander freely,
The soaring cliff-
My hall of meditation.
Sitting on this frosty seat,
No further dream of fame.
The forest, the mountain
Follow their ancient ways,
And through the long spring day,
No even the shadow of a bird,

- Reizan (~1411)

you folks are beautiful

Here none think of wealth or fame,
All talk of right and wrong is quelled:
In autumn I rake the leaf-banked stream,
In spring attend the nightengale.

- Daigu (1584-1669)

Those who have no mental vigilance,
Though they may hear the teachings,
Ponder them or meditate,
With minds like water seeping
From a leaking jug,
Their learning will not settle
In their memories.

- Santideva

Superior goodness is like water:
Water benefits the myriad things,
And does not contend with them.
It flows to places which repel mankind
And thus it approximates the Way.
~Lao Tzu

The pond’s surface
Has been sealed in ice,
But the sound of its waves
Lingers in the pines.

- Gensei (1623-1668)

If you proceed from thence and set out in quest of words and sentences,
cudgeling your brains over their logical meanings,
working out a thousand possibilities and ten thousand subtle distinctions,
and creating endless questions and debates,
all that you will gain thereby is a glib tongue,
while at the same time you will be getting farther and farther away from the Tao,
with no rest to your wandering.

- Yun-men

My poems, they’re poems too;
Some people even call them hymns.
Poems and hymns are on the whole alike
When you read them you’ve got
To go at it with care,
Slowly, slowly, carefully probing
Don’t rashly assume it’s all simple and easy.
Use poems to learn how to practice the Way
Then you’ll find it a hugely laughable affair!

- Gensei (1623-1668)

The mountain monk loves his mountains
And will not come out again,
The worldly man is tied to the world
And will not be back again
Below the Chu-jung Peak
I turn my head
Knowing that in this life
Our parting is forever.

- Han Yu

A bird in a secluded grove sings like a flute.
Willows sway gracefully with their golden threads.
The mountain valley grows the quieter
As the clouds return.
A breeze brings along the fragrance
Of apricot flowers.
For a whole day I have sat here
Encompassed by peace,
Till my mind is cleansed in and out
Of all cares and idle thoughts.
I wish to tell you how I feel,
But words fail me.
If you come to this grove,
We can compare notes.

- Fa-yen

The days and months go by like lightning: we should value the time.
We pass from life to death in the time it takes to breathe in and breathe out:
it’s hard to guarantee even a morning and an evening.
Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, do not waste even a moment of time.
Become ever braver and bolder.
Be like our original teacher Shakyamuni, who kept on progressing energetically.

- T’aego

Buddha said:

“Beyond thousands of millions of buddha-lands, there is a land called Ultimate Bliss. This land has a buddha called Amitabha. Now he appears teaching the Dharma”

In these words of Buddha there is a profound, intimate, esoteric meaning.
Do you recognize it or not?

- T’aego

“It’s easy to say “I love you”.
It’s easy to talk about love,
and presence, and awareness,
and a deep acceptance of what is.

It’s easy to teach,
to say things that sound true,
and good, and spiritual.
But they are just words.
There is a world before words.

When anger surges, as it will, can you stay close, and not numb it, or lash out?

When fear bursts in the body, can you breathe into it,
and not fuse with it, or run away into stories?

When you feel hurt, rejected, unloved, abandoned,
can you make room for that feeling,
welcome it in the body,
bow to its intensity, its fire, its presence,
and not attack, or act out, or call people names?

Can you commit to not abandoning yourself now that you need your own love the most?

It’s easy to talk about love.
It’s easy to teach.
Until our old wounds are opened.
Until life doesn’t go our way.

What triggers you
is inviting you
to a deeper self-love.
Can you see?

There is no shame in this:
We all have tender places.”

~Jeff Foster

It is only you that cannot let go.
You yourself build walls between the worlds and then see a difference between yourself and others.
It is you yourself who are obstructing the three realms;
how could the three realms ever obstruct you?
If you do not create obstructions yourself,
then this very existence of yours will be the all-embracing body and the all-embracing mind.

- Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157)