Zen Poems and Haiku

8/13/2019 Zen Poems and Haiku

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Zen Poems and Haiku- A selection from a 'non-zennist'

SOME CLASSICS

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.

The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.

Although its light is wide and great,

The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.

The whole moon and the entire sky

Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

Dogen

Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharmasee no Dharma in everyday actions.

They have not yet discovered that

there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma.

Dogen

It is as though you have an eye

That sees all formsBut does not see itself.

This is how your mind is.Its light penetrates everywhere

And engulfs everything,

So why does it not know itself?Foyan

Who is hearing?

Your physical being doesn't hear,

or does the !oid"

#hen $hat does?

Stri!e to %ind out"&ut aside your rational Intellect,

i!e up all techni(ues"

)ust get rid o% the notion o% sel%"

Bassui

What is this *ind?

Who is hearing these sounds?+o not *istae any state %or

Sel%-reali.ation, but continue

#o as yoursel% e!en *ore intensely,

What is it that hears?

Bassui


2/9

/e$ people belie!e their

Inherent *ind is 0uddha"

Most $ill not tae this

seriously,

And there%ore are cra*ped"

#hey are $rapped up inillusions, cra!ings,

1esent*ents, and other

a%%lictions,

All because they lo!e the ca!e

o% ignorance"

Fenyang

Hell is not punishment,

it's training.

Shunryu Suzuki

The most important thing is to find outwhat is the most important thing.

Shunryu Suzuki

Well !ersed in the 0uddha $ay,

I go the non-Way

Without abandoning *y

Ordinary person's a%%airs"

#he conditioned and

a*e-and-%or*,

All are %lo$ers in the sy"

a*eless and %or*less,

I lea!e birth-and-death"

Layman P'ang (740-808)

If you want to be free,

Get to know your real self.

It has no form, no appearance,

o root, no basis, no abode,!ut is lively and buoyant.

It responds with versatile facility,

!ut its function cannot be located.Therefore when you look for it,

"ou become further from it#

$hen you seek it,"ou turn away from it all the more.

% &in'i

Where beauty is, then there is

ugliness;where right is, also there is

wrong.

Knowledge and ignorance areinterdependent;

delusion and enlightenment

condition each other.

ince olden times it has beenso.

!ow could it be otherwise

now"Wanting to get rid of one and

grab the other

is merely realizing a scene of

#hough $ thin%

not#o thin% about it,

$ do thin% aboutit

And shed tears

#hin%ing about

it.(yokan

obly, the great priest

deposits his daily stool

in blea $inter %ields

Buson

The monkey is reaching)or the moon in the water.

*ntil death overtakes him

+ell never give up.If hed let go the branch and


3/9

stupidity.

&en if you spea% of the

wonder of it all,

how do you deal with eachthing changing"

%(yokan%

Disappear in the deep pool,The whole world would shine

$ith da--ling pureness.

!a%uin

)ood and clothes sustain

!ody and life#

I advise you to learn

!eing as is.$hen its time,

I move my hermitage and go,

And theres nothingTo be left behind.

(ayman )'ang

A $orld o% de$,

and $ithin

e!ery de$drop

a $orld o%

struggle

Issa

Loo %or 0uddha outside

your o$n *ind,

and 0uddha beco*es the

de!il"

Dogen

ld pond,

frog 'umps in

% splash

*asho

E!en though I'* in 2yoto,

$hen the oooo cries,

I long %or 2yoto"

Issa


4/9


5/9


6/9

?. E1perience 2han3 Itll re8uire great

skepticism#!ut great skepticism blocks those detours

on the road.

@ump off the lofty peaks of mystery.Turn your heaven and earth inside out.

0. E1perience 2han3 Ignore that

superstitious nonsense

That makes some claim that theyve attained2han.

)oolish beliefs are those of the not%yet%

awakened.And theyre the ones who most need the

e1perience of 2han3

00. E1perience 2han3 Theres neither

All sentient beings are essentially !uddhas.

As with water and ice, there is no ice without water#

apart from sentient beings, there are no !uddhas.

ot knowing how close the truth is,we seek it far away

%%what a pity3

!a%uin &%a%u 4en5i

O#-SO CLASSICAL


7/9

ot believing in anything I

'ust sit,

listening to my breathing

After thirty yearsIt still goes in and out.

Albert 6oelho

ne step

A hundred

crickets@ump

7erry A (ey

Adding fathers name

to the family

tombstone

with room for myown.

8icholas 9irgilio

$hen you hear your innervoice,

forget it.

!yoen ahn

in one gust

the last leafdecidesB

gone

:obert !enry)oulin

first on a track

night spider webscatch my face

2ao eng +#asmania0

!rown mimosa seedwhere blossoms once invited

hummingbirds to feed.

&thel reeman

troubled nightno resting

place

for mythoughts

)hil Adams

&ook3The beggars shouting

fingers

find no listeners eye.

aol.com

bang3

robin %eathers stuc to the %rosty $indo$

-- 4ust the cat's tail *o!es

r#a#nu*was#ing"on*edu

SOME O/ MY OW 5EIS6 A##EMS
http://www.hsuyun.org/http://www.hsuyun.org/http://www.hsuyun.org/http://www.hsuyun.org/


8/9

A cross%legged monk

4ilent awarenessA battle for peace.

The cry of a child

The cry of an ambulance

The cry of a newborn.

$ am so tiny#he ?nierse so

endless

All my creation

eow young s&ring

+ky %u o% #o&e

Fu"ure won'" !ome*

Fren,y o% inse!"s

Hea" o% our s"ar

#e &as" #as dissoed*

.ed #umid %ores"

Lig#" rays in %og

+#a""ering sien!e*

Ba!k naked "rees

/#i"e "o&&ing o% snow

&er%e!" year gone*

A dinner with friends(oe, laughter and trust

Du%%ha disguised.

Grasping attachment,Insisting on trouble:

My life as a fool.

Grasping a Path,Insisting on my view:

My life as a fool.

Grasping, Insisting:Fool.

4choolyard with

children4hameless screaming

and fun

$hen did I loose that5

Thundering silence

2olorful darkness

$anting to be free

!uddha is dead

ot even born#

&ight without darkness.

Dust from the mirror

2leansed with much care

Gone is the mirror.

$ith metta toact

$ith wisdom

to beThe struggle

to end.

All is so *any

All is but One

one"

owhere is hereever is now

End of the tunnel

o tunnelo me.

Who a* I?A* I?

A*?

"A tree in the wind

#he wind in a treeAll in me.


9/9

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Zen Poems and Haiku