Category: zen

  • Grow Old

    It’s good to grow old content.
    Cold and heat change my appearance;
    The pearl of my mind stays safe

    – Han-shan

  • Sit serenely

    The practice of true reality
    Is simply to sit serenely
    In silent introspection.

    – Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157)

  • Forget the words

    Inside each sunset.
    Trying to talk about it,
    I have forgotten the words.

    – Tao Yuan Ming (365–427)

  • a new year looms

    “Another year about to end
    In my empty mountain abode;
    Rivers and clouds,
    Their trails indistinct;
    Pines and cedars,
    Their natures the same.
    I arise from my nap
    To find the taro roots done;
    As the incense fades out,
    I finish a scripture.
    Who knows that real pleasure
    Lies within stillness and silence? ”
    – Wen-siang (1210-1280)

  • meditation and wisdom

    Never under any
    Circumstances say that
    Meditation and wisdom
    Are different;
    They are one unity,
    Not two things.

    – Hui-neng (638-713)

  • bamboo

    I like bamboo as the symbol
    of constancy and simplicity.
    I built my house deep within a grove.
    Strike the bamboo
    with a piece of brick.
    Perhaps the sound could
    awaken a passing Zen monk

    – Jakushitsu (died 1368)

  • wandering mystic

    White clouds flying
    Mists melt black mountains
    And this wandering mystic’s
    Wandered astray.

    – Yun-K’an Tzu

  • Rest youself in oneness

    Do not pursue the outer conditions
    nor dwell in the inner void.

    Rest yourself in oneness with things
    and all barriers will disappear

    – Seng Ts’an

  • Dragons

    Keep your karma in good working order;
    many dragons lie in wait.

    Wang Wei (701-761)

  • Liberation

    the truth in untruth,
    the light in darkness,
    the life in death.
    This is real liberation.

    – Nityananda