Focus

Focus ... distraction's only natural 

 

Earth, river, mountain:

snowflakes melt in air.

How could I have doubted?

Where's north? south? east? west?

Dangai

(c.1127-1279)

Caught

Caught ... a lost consciousness

Sixty-six years

piling sins,

I leap into hell - 

above life and death.

T'ien-t'ung Ju-ching

(1183-1228)

 

Assessment

 

To choose but not to judge

Clouds appear free of care

and carefree drift away.

But the carefree mind is not to be "found" -

to find it, first stop looking around.

Wang An-shih

(1021-1086)

july 2024

Fearless

Fearless ... is not about size

 Green mountains father white clouds:
white clouds are the children of mountains.
White clouds hang around all day.
Mostly the mountain doesn't mind.

T'ung-shan Liang-chieh

(807-869)

Natural

Natural ... if we allow it

 Lute

My lute set aside 

   on the little table,

lazily I meditate 

   on cherished feelings.

The reason I don't bother 

   to strum and pluck?

There's a breeze over the strings 

   and it plays itself.

Po Chu-i

(772-846)

Solitary

Solitary ... part of the journey

Seclude the mind, not the movements,
remain living in the world of man.
Lack a tree?  Plant a sapling.
Without a mountain?  Look at a picture.
Living amidst clamor I am not flustered;
true meaning is found in this.

Ch'iao-jan
(734-c.792)

Flight

Flight ... the most natural thing

 

I make my home in the mountains

You ask why I live

alone in the mountain forest,

and I smile and am silent

until even my soul grows quiet:

it lives in the other world,

one that no one owns.

The peach trees blossom.

The water continues to flow.

Li Po

(701-762)

"Seeing each other ...."

 

"Seeing each other,

they break out in laughter."

"What color is the wind;

from where does the rain come?"

"In every place ...."

"In every place, the complete truth"

 

"Meeting the source ...."

"Meeting the source to the right

and to the left" 

 

"When you go far off ...."

 

"When you go far off, you always start from nearby."

"True taste ...."

"True taste is only in

the light and simple."