Date: 5/28/2008

The beauty of Zen


I witness the worldly wasting their lives;
punishing themselves through their endless craving;
seeking satisfaction but finding despair.
Their enjoyment of getting is only short lived.
One day in heavenly pleasure, then ten days of hellish torment.
Shackled to the grindstone by their own hands.
Like monkeys snatching at moonlight on water,
they tumble into the swirling;
entranced by this drifting world of suffering.
I can't help myself caring.
I can't stop my tears falling.
~ Ryokan


However deep your knowledge of the scriptures,
it is no more than a strand of hair
in the vastness of space;
however important appears
your worldly experience,
it is but a drop of water in a deep ravine.
~ Tokusan


Whether you are going or staying or sitting or lying down,
the whole world is your own self.
You must find out
whether the mountains, rivers, grass, and forests
exist in your own mind or exist outside it.
Analyse the ten thousand things,
dissect them minutely,
and when you take this to the limit
you will come to the limitless,
when you search into it you come to the end of search,
where thinking goes no further and distinctions vanish.
When you smash the citadel of doubt,
then the buddha is simply yourself.
~ Daikaku



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