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Chan/Zen poetry

Han Shan, Wang Wei, Dogen, Basho, Ryokan, tanka, haiku, you name it. Post your favorite zennie poems here (or your own)... To begin:

Treading along in this dreamlike, illusory realm,
Without looking for the traces I may have left;
A cuckoo's song beckons me to return home;
Hearing this, I tilt my head to see
Who has told me to turn back;
But do not ask me where I am going;
As I travel in this limitless world,
Where every step I take is my home.

~ Dogen (translated by Steven Heine)

Comments

  • Arising and subsiding
    Arising and vanishing
    Either or both demands an imaginary "I" state
    A state called self

    The imaginary self
    A state
    Part of the arising-subsiding-vanishing

    Without a self, who would know of such things
  • I don't regard my life
    as insufficient.
    Inside the brushwood gate
    there is a moon;
    there are flowers.

    ~Ryokan (translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi)
  • I reached Cold Mountain and all cares stopped
    no idle thoughts remained in my head
    nothing to do I write poems on rocks
    and trust the current like an unmoored boat

    ~ Han Shan (translated by Red Pine)
    howTheswingisyellow
  • The sounds of the stream
    splash out
    the Buddha’s sermon
    Don’t say
    that the deepest meaning
    comes only from one’s mouth
    Day and night
    eighty thousand poems
    arise one after the other
    and in fact
    not a single word
    has ever been spoken

    Muso Soseki (1275-1351)
    Translated by W.S. Merwin
    and Soiku Shigematsu
  • I enjoy Classical Chinese poetry, esp. Du Fu and Li Bo. While not strictly Buddhist, it does have a very zenlike quality to it. Here are some of my favorites.

    "Nocturnal Reflections While Travelling"
    Du Fu

    Gentle breeze on grass by the shore,
    The boat's tall mast alone at night.
    Stars fall to the broad flat fields,
    Moon rises from the great river's flow.
    Have my writings not made any mark?
    An official should stop when old and sick.
    Fluttering from place to place I resemble,
    A gull between heaven and earth.


    "Qiang Village (1)"
    Du Fu

    Red clouds tower in the west,
    The sun is sinking on the plain.
    A sparrow chirps on the wicker gate,
    I return from a thousand li away.
    My wife and children are shocked to see me,
    Then calm themselves and wipe their tears.
    I floated through this disordered life,
    By chance I have managed to return alive.
    The neighbours all lean over the wall,
    And they as well are sighing and sobbing.
    Late at night we bring out candles,
    And face each other as in a dream.

    "Alone And Drinking Under The Moon"
    Li Po

    Amongst the flowers I
    am alone with my pot of wine
    drinking by myself; then lifting
    my cup I asked the moon
    to drink with me, its reflection
    and mine in the wine cup, just
    the three of us; then I sigh
    for the moon cannot drink,
    and my shadow goes emptily along
    with me never saying a word;
    with no other friends here, I can
    but use these two for company;
    in the time of happiness, I
    too must be happy with all
    around me; I sit and sing
    and it is as if the moon
    accompanies me; then if I
    dance, it is my shadow that
    dances along with me; while
    still not drunk, I am glad
    to make the moon and my shadow
    into friends, but then when
    I have drunk too much, we
    all part; yet these are
    friends I can always count on
    these who have no emotion
    whatsoever; I hope that one day
    we three will meet again,
    deep in the Milky Way.

    "Autumn River Song"
    Li Po

    The moon shimmers in green water.
    White herons fly through the moonlight.

    The young man hears a girl gathering water-chestnuts:
    into the night, singing, they paddle home together.
    riverflow
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    Wrote this the other day ... I'm not quite sure if it qualifies for the discussion:

    Slip me down between the waves,
    Beyond the reach of needs or craves.
    Slip me down and make me free
    As apples falling from the tree.
    riverflowrivercane
  • Here is the shortest zen poem ever; (written by me)

    B..

    (Inspired by zen's 'Just be')

  • riverflowriverflow Veteran
    edited June 2013
    In the stream,
    Rushing past
    To the dusty world,
    My fleeting form
    Casts no reflection.

    ~ Dogen
    (translated by Steven Heine)
    Jeffrey
  • BeejBeej Human Being Veteran
    "No snowflake falls in an inappropriate place"

    -not really a poem, but its loaded with "poemness". and i can not cite a source but if i had to i would cite "the wind". :)
    riverflow
  • BlondelBlondel Veteran
    I emulate old Joshu:
    “Have a cup of tea!”
    I’ve stock for a thousand years,
    But no one’s buying.
    If only you would come
    And take one good drink
    The ancient mental craving
    Would instantly cease.

    ~ The Old Tea Seller Baisaô (1675–1763)
    riverflowJeffrey
  • BlondelBlondel Veteran
    You wish to know the spirit of Yung-ming Zen?
    Look at the lake in front of the gate.
    When the sun shines, it radiates light and brightness.
    When the wind comes, there arise ripples and waves.

    ~ Yung-ming Yen-shou (904–975)
    riverflowJeffrey
  • I am not this..
    I am not that..
    I just...... Am!

    ~ME~
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    Was I this hard-shelled the last time I was born?

    That sound you just heard
    was not the wing-beat of some great bird

    but my breath

    and yours.

    We need to do that more often, me and you.

    Breathe…consciously.

    Breathe.

    We need Breathing Rooms
    and Breathing Gardens

    Breathing Baths
    and Breathing Temples

    where those
    who've been carrying
    stones on their shoulders all day
    can come back to themselves

    be nourished…and remember.

    Remember

    what it is like
    to be woven back in

    to the great weave of belonging.

    Each and every person
    in every land
    clothed in every garb
    is a shining prism
    in Indra's Great Net.

    We haven't
    admitted to it
    quite yet

    but every thought
    we're really having
    all the time
    is about moving
    the stone away
    from the opening
    of our soul's tomb.

    We came here to break out
    but look at how polite
    we're all being.

    We haven't
    admitted to it
    quite yet

    but it's going to take both of us
    all of us
    pushing from either side
    of our blockages
    and agreeing
    about the direction
    we want to go.

    Captivity only exists
    as an inner state of being.

    The Captive Ones knew this.
    Gandhi.
    Akiva ben Joseph.
    Jesus.
    Al-Hallaj.
    Ikkyu.
    Pomponia Graecina.

    They are all talking
    over tea
    about what
    makes us free

    and
    they
    all
    agree:

    If we're free inside
    anywhere we go
    becomes part
    of our insides.

    Taking all of that in
    feels overwhelming, they warn us.

    Penetrating
    through the illusion of separateness
    is not for the faint-hearted.

    Suddenly we see…reality.

    We see there really is
    safety to be had in numbers.

    Then,
    sometime before the sun comes up

    we forget
    and go back
    to walking around
    like we aren't One.
    ________________________________________________
    Bodhiyatra Poetry

    http://bodhiyatra.blogspot.co.uk/?wref=bif


    JeffreyCheriverflow
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