Topic: Ryokan

[Nichi]

When all thoughts
Are exhausted
I slip into the woods
And gather
A pile of shepherd's purse.

Like the little stream
Making its way
Through the mossy crevices
I, too, quietly
Turn clear and transparent.


Ryokan
18th Century Japan

[Nichi]

Reply To A Friend

In stubborn stupidity, I live on alone
befriended by trees and herbs.
Too lazy to learn right from wrong,
I laugh at myself, ignoring others.
Lifting my bony shanks, I cross the stream,
a sack in my hand, blessed by spring weather.
Living thus, I want for nothing,
at peace with all the world.

Your finger points to the moon,
but the finger is blind until the moon appears.
What connection has moon and finger?
Are they separate objects or bound?
This is a question for beginners
wrapped in seas of ignorance.
Yet one who looks beyond metaphor
knows there is no finger; there is no moon.

~Ryokan

~*~

You stop to point at the moon in the sky,
but the finger's blind unless the moon is shining.

One moon, one careless finger pointing --
are these two things or one?

The question is a pointer guiding
a novice from ignorance thick as fog.

Look deeper. The mystery calls and calls:
No moon, no finger -- nothing there at all.


~Ryokan

[Nichi]

The Lotus

First blooming in the Western Paradise,
The lotus has delighted us for ages.
Its white petals are covered with dew,
its jade green leaves spread out over the pond,
And its pure fragrance perfumes the wind.
Cool and majestic, it raises from the murky water.
The sun sets behind the mountains
But I remain in the darkness, too captivated to leave.


~Ryokan

[Nichi]

Who says my poems are poems?
My poems are not poems.
When you know that my poems are not poems,
Then we can speak of poetry!


~Ryokan

[Nichi]

Though I've grown old living in this world
The world itself seems always the same.
But when I look for people
like those long ago
Hardly any can be found.
Monks, laymen -
All rush headlong down the same
treacherous slope.
Never pausing, night or day.
And of the safe, level road, alas!
Nothing remains but rank growing weeds.

~Ryokan

[Michael]

And of the safe, level road, alas!
Nothing remains but rank growing weeds.

Alas, but we know it in our hearts.

[Nichi]

Caged Birds

Time and again
You, too,
Must long for
Your old nest
Deep in the mountain.


Ryokan
18th Century Japan

[Nichi]

Another year lingers to an end;
Heaven sends a bitter frost.
Fallen leaves cover the mountains
And there are no travelers to cast shadows on the path.
Endless night: dried leaves burn slowly on the hearth.
Occasionally, the sound of freezing rain.
Dizzy, I try to recall the past -
Nothing here but dreams.

~ Ryokan

[From 'One Robe, One Bowl', translated by John Stevens.]

[Michael]

Yes, another year dribbles out, although despite being in the Northern Hemisphere, it is very hot here.

Good poems.

[Nichi]

My hut lies in the middle of a dense forest;
Every year the green ivy grows longer.
No news of the affairs of men,
Only the occasional song of a woodcutter.
The sun shines and I mend my robe;
When the moon comes out I read Buddhist poems.
I have nothing to report, my friends.
If you want to find the meaning, stop chasing after
so many things.

- Ryokan

[Nichi]

Troubled and confused is life in the three worlds
It's not just the way things are today
Things have always been like this
Because you fail to realise the truth
You spend a lifetime chasing about
Reading the Buddhist scriptures, you become
caught up in names and forms
and never return
Practicing Zen, you become attached to nirvana
and end up being mired there
It reminds me of Master Tung-shan's apt words:
"The moment you set foot outside the gate
Grasses are sprouting everywhere"

~ Ryokan

From 'Great Fool: Zen Master Ryokan'.
Translated by Ryuichi Abe and Peter Haskel. University of Hawaii Press.

[Nichi]

The days and months move on, and now as
the year draws to a close
Heaven sends down a chastening frost
Across a thousand hills, trees stand bare
On myriad paths, scarcely a traveler
I burn dried leaves
The long night passes, broken
now and then by the sounds
of wind and rain
As I think back, everything gone by
Is just a picture in a dream

- Ryokan

[Nichi]

Though I think not
To think about it,
I do think about it
And shed tears
Thinking about it.

Ryokan

[Michael]

yep, in a nutshell