Few more..
The most important thing is to find out
what is the most important thing.
-Shunryu Suzuki-
Though I think not
To think about it,
I do think about it
And shed tears
Thinking about it.
-Ryokan-
Few more..
The most important thing is to find out
what is the most important thing.
-Shunryu Suzuki-
Though I think not
To think about it,
I do think about it
And shed tears
Thinking about it.
-Ryokan-
The Buddha's Last Instruction
“Make of yourself a light,”
said the Buddha,
before he died.
I think of this every morning
as the east begins
to tear off its many clouds
of darkness, to send up the first
signal – a white fan
streaked with pink and violet,
even green.
An old man, he lay down
between two sala trees,
and he might have said anything,
knowing it was his final hour.
The light burns upward,
it thickens and settles over the fields.
Around him, the villagers gathered
and stretched forward to listen.
Even before the sun itself
hangs, disattached, in the blue air,
I am touched everywhere
by its ocean of yellow waves.
No doubt he thought of everything
that had happened in his difficult life.
And then I feel the sun itself
as it blazes over the hills,
like a million flowers on fire –
clearly I’m not needed,
yet I feel myself turning
into something of inexplicable value.
Slowly, beneath the branches,
he raised his head.
He looked into the faces of that frightened crowd.
~ Mary Oliver ~
re-edited:
Dogen,
If we grasp it, it's gone.
Bodhidharma,
The universe is my name.
Brothers and sisters - trees,
Mother- the sound of hammer on nail.
Say trees, hammers and nails,
With eyes, ear, and nose.
With fingers, knees, hair, and toes.
And without, sap, bark and leaves-
Even this speaks in the breeze.
Gassho Will
What are you cursing?
What are you hitting?
What are you loving?
Who is competing?
Where is this one?
Can you find them in the colors?
Why get angry at the Sun?
The moon doesn't care if your big or small,
So who is short and what is tall?
Gassho
In the stillness by the empty window,
I sit in formal zazen.
Navel and nose in alignment
Ears parallel with shoulders.
Moonlight floods the room.
The rain stops, and the eaves drip.
Perfect the moment.
In the vast emptiness
my understanding deepens.
Ryokan
If there are mountains, I look at the mountains;
On rainy days I listen to the rain.
Spring, summer, autumn, winter.
Tomorrow too will be good.
Tonight too is good.
~ Taneda Santôka
And this little bird I take under my wing,
To teach, to laugh, to be, and to sing,
As I Lift it's chin up, he flies on her own,
To teach, to live, to laugh, and disown.
W
After Basho's famous frog haiku
after basho's frog haiku
the garden pond
speaks more volume
after basho's frog haiku
every splash at the pond
eddies to the centre of my heart
after basho's frog haiku
each sight of the amphibian
the echo of a splash
Basho who revolutionises the haiku world
and became an icon after this famous poem:
old pond
a frog jumps in
the sound of water
john tiong chunghoo