Guest guest Posted October 19, 2002 Report Share Posted October 19, 2002 Does your room really have a view, Or even a window to look through? All I want is for you to look inside of you. Don't be afraid to walk through the door. Believe it or not, you've opened it. - Chris Cormack, 1992 Source: Mind Moon Circle Quarterly, Autumn 1992, pp.21 Who speaks the sound of an echo? Who paints the image in a mirror? Where are the spectacles in a dream? Nowhere at all -- that's the nature of mind! - Tantric Buddhist Women's Songs, 8th - 11th c. A yellow flower (Light and spirit) Sings by itself For nobody. A golden spirit (Light and emptiness) Sings without a word By itself. - Thomas Merton Thomas Merton's Poetry: Emblems of a Sacred Season Mountain fruit drop in the rain and grass insects sing under my oil lamp. White hair, after all, can never change as yellow gold cannot be created. If you want to know how to get rid of age, its sickness, study nonbeing. - Wang Wei, 699-761 Laughing Lost in the Mountains: Poems of Wang Wei, p. 129 One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction. To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection. To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, Because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind. - Hsin Hsin Ming, Verses On The Faith Mind By Seng T'san,Third Zen Patriarch Translated from the Chinese by Richard B. Clarke A serving of snow in a silver bowl, Or herons concealed in the glare of the moon Apart, they seem similar, together, they're different. Meaning cannot rest in words, It adapts itself to that which arises. Tremble and you're lost in a trap, Miss and there's always regrets. - Tozan Ryokai, The Song of the Jeweled Mirror Samadhi Translation by: Toshu John Neatrour, Sheng-yen, Kaz Tanahashi Crape myrtle, brilliant red, bursting forth; Hiding the garden. Some days, only the Garden, entire, serene; Yet, hiding from sight, shy, single plants. Seeing Both, seldom, but as One: Sweat poured from my startled brow, Dripping on the dry earth, And all became Sunshine And shadows of surprise unraveling. - Michael P. Garofalo, Above the Fog Being and non-being produce each other. Difficulty and ease bring about each other. Long and short delimit each other. High and low rest on each other. Sound and voice harmonize each other. Front and back follow each other. Therefore the sage abides in the condition of unattached action. And carries out the wordless teaching. Here, the myriad things are made, yet not separated. - Tao Te Ching, #2 Translated by Charles Muller Past mind can't be grasped, Present mind can't be grasped, Future mind can't be grasped. With which mind will you drink this tea? - A businesswoman questions Te Shan For such as, reflecting within themselves, Testify to the truth of Self-nature, To the truth that Self-nature is no-nature, They have really gone beyond the ken of sophistry. For them opens the gate of the oneness of cause and effect, And straight runs the path of non-duality and non-trinity. Abiding with the not-particular which is in particulars, Whether going or returning, they remain for ever unmoved; Taking hold of the not-thought which lies in thoughts, In every act of theirs they hear the voice of the truth. - Hakuin (1685-1768), Song of Meditation Manual of Zen Buddhism One is all; all are one. When you realize this, what reason for holiness or wisdom? The mind of absolute trust is beyond all thought, all striving, is perfectly at peace, for in it there is no yesterday, no today, no tomorrow. - Sent-Ts'an, The Mind of Absolute Trust Translated by Stephen Mitchell, The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry The 'you' who you think you are does not exist. - Alan Watts If I try to say anything about this, one might remember that it is everything speaking simultaneously to everything just so, how can anything be said, except in the saying of it something new emerges. The earth speaks in new grass, snow, chrysanthemums. The mountain speaks in boulders, trees, waterfalls. The sky speaks in sun, moon, cloud. Han Shan hears, weeps, laughs. Ah, what secrets within your own bright true mind! - Mazie and b, 9/16/2002 The Missing Three Hundred Poems of Han Shan The deepest words of the wise man teach us the same as the whistle of the wind when it blows or the sound of the water when it is flowing. - Antonio Machado (1875-1939) The Enlightened Heart, Edited by Stephen Mitchell, p. 129 "Zen poetry is based on the simple idea that self-contemplation is the key to understanding the universe. The subject and form of Zen poems must embody the teachings of the Buddha and demonstrate an intellectual skill beyond that demonstrated in an orthodox poetic subject. Zen poetry believes that 'Zen is Poetry, and Poetry is Zen'. While forms such as Buddhist poetry demand the poet writes solely about Buddhist subjects, the poem may have any subject, so long as it can be suffused with the spirit of Zen. The basic formula of a Zen poem follows seven principles: asymmetry, simplicity, agedness, naturalness, latency, unconventionality and quietness." - Zen and Poetry By Cynthia Muraca. See also: R. H. Blyth Hearing a crow with no mouth Cry in the deep Darkness of the night, I feel a longing for My father before he was born. - A Zen Harvest: Japanese Folk Zen Sayings, p. 147 Compiled and translated by Soiku Shigematsu Great is the robe of liberation, the robe of no form, the field of happiness! I wear the Tathagata's teaching to awaken countless beings. - Zen Master Dogen, 1200 - 1253 Enlightenment Unfolds, Edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi, p. 95 Buddhas and Fathers cut to pieces-- The sword is ever kept sharpened! Where the wheel turns, The void gnashes its teeth. - Daito (1282-1336) Manual of Zen Buddhism Do not stray from "Walking is Ch'an, sitting is Ch'an!" Essentially at ease whether talking or remaining silent, moving or staying still. It is serene even when greeted with sharp weapons, And is not worried about poisons. It cannot be grasped, nor let go of, But, if you do neither, It goes its own way. If you remain silent, it will speak. Speak and it is silent. - Ch'an Master Hsuan Chuen of Yung Chia The Song of Enlightenment We all sat in silence. This guy walks onto the stage and up to the microphone. He adjusts his glasses. This is him, D. T. Suzuki, we've seen pictures of him before, but he looks smaller. He reaches out and taps the mike. A hollow ping sounds though the hall. He says: "Zen Buddhism, Very hard to understand. Thank you." Then he walked off the stage. - A story told by Jonathan Greenlee about a a visit by D. T. Suzuki to UCLA. But whatever you do, Do not hold on to the open mind; For in doing so, You will close it. Abandon control; The more you force it, The more you remove yourself from it. If it cannot come naturally, Be open-minded about it and accept it; Then the mind will open on it's own, Without you obstructing it. - By Anders Honore Perceiving Mind For thirty years I have been in search of the swordsman; Many a time have I watched the leaves decay and the branches shoot! Ever since I saw for once the peaches in bloom, Not a shadow of doubt do I cherish. - Ling-Yün and the Peach Blossoms D.T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, 1953, 2nd Series, p. 145, Awakening, I hear the truth-- gray rain on clay. - Michael P. Garofalo, Above the Fog Michael P. Garofalo The Spirit of Gardening http://www.gardendigest.com LoveAlways, Mazie & b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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