Showing posts with label Han Shan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Han Shan. Show all posts

Thursday, September 10, 2020

in the deep woods





You find a flower half-buried in leaves,
And in your eye its very fate resides.
Loving beauty, you caress the bloom;
Soon enough, you’ll sweep petals from the floor.


Terrible to love the lovely so,
To count your own years, to say “I’m old,”
To see a flower half-buried in leaves
And come face to face with what you are.

 


~   Han Shan
 
 

Saturday, April 6, 2019

you find a flower






You find a flower half-buried in leaves,
And in your eye its very fate resides.
Loving beauty, you caress the bloom;
Soon enough, you’ll sweep petals from the floor.

Terrible to love the lovely so,
To count your own years, to say “I’m old,”
To see a flower half-buried in leaves
And come face to face with what you are.



~ 寒山 Han Shan


Han-shan's early life was privileged. He was well educated, traveled, served in the military, went to war, competed unsuccessfully for government jobs, and finally married, moved to the country and became a gentleman farmer. As the years passed, he became increasingly dissatisfied with his life and disappointed in the world of men. One day he packed up some books and began to wander. His wanderings led him to a remote place called Cold Mountain, in the Tien Tai range in southern China, where he built a hut, dug a pond and planted some vegetables. 

~ comments from Wikipedia



Sunday, April 1, 2012

the road in the clouds






When people look for the road in the clouds 
The cloud road disappears 
The mountains are tall and steep 
The streams are wide and still 
Green mountains ahead and behind 
White clouds to east and west 
If you want to find the cloud road 
Seek it within

***

The higher the trail the steeper it grows 
Ten thousand tiers of dangerous cliffs 
The stone bridge is slippery with green moss 
Cloud after cloud keeps flying by 
Waterfalls hang like ribbons of silk 
The moon shines down on a bright pool 
I climb the highest peak once more 
To wait where the lone crane flies

***

Old and sick, more than one hundred years 
Face haggard, hair white, I’m happy to still live in the mountains 
A cloth covered phantom watching the years flow by 
Why envy people with clever ways of living?



~ Han Shan



Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Men ask the way through the clouds



.
Men ask the way through the clouds,
The cloud way’s dark, without a sign.
High summits are of naked rock.
In deep valleys sun never shines.
Behind you green peaks, and in front,
To east the white clouds, and to west –
Want to know where the cloud way lies?
It’s there, in the centre of the Void!
.
~ Han-Shan



.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Clambering up the Cold Mountain path


.


Clambering up the Cold Mountain path,
The Cold Mountain trail goes on and on:
The long gorge choked with scree and boulders,
The wide creek, the mist-blurred grass.
The moss is slippery, though there's been no rain
The pine sings, but there's no wind.
Who can leap the world's ties
And sit with me among the white clouds?

~ Han Shan