Showing posts with label Ryokan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ryokan. Show all posts

Friday, December 23, 2022

faint traces

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Reflecting over seventy years,
I am tired of judging right from wrong.
Faint traces of a path trodden in deep night snow.
A stick of incense under the rickety window.
 
 
 
 
 
~ Ryokan
from Sky Above, Great Wind
The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan
by Kazuaki Tanahashi
 
 
 

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

no one home








No one home
Fallen pine needles
scattered at the door.




~ Ryokan
from Sky Above, Great Wind
by Kazuaki Tanahashi


before listening









Before listening to the way, do not fail to wash your ears.
Otherwise it will be impossible to listen clearly.


What is washing your ears?

Do not hold on to your view.
If you cling to it even a little bit,
you will lose your way.


What is similar to you but wrong, you regard as right.

What is different from you but right, you regard as wrong.

You begin with ideas of right and wrong.
But the way is not so.


Seeking answers with closed ears is
like trying to touch the ocean bottom with a pole.
 
 


~ Ryokan




Sunday, August 28, 2022

I knew











Although from the beginning
I knew
the world is impermanent,
not a moment passes
when my sleeves are dry.




~ Ryokan
from Sky Above, Great Wind



more firmly to the grindstone


 
 



.

I watch people in the world 
Throw away their lives lusting after things, 
Never able to satisfy their desires, 
Falling into deeper despair 
And torturing themselves. 
 
Even if they get what they want 
How long will they be able to enjoy it? 
For one heavenly pleasure 
They suffer ten torments of hell, 
 
Binding themselves more firmly to the grindstone. 
Such people are like monkeys 
Frantically grasping for the moon in the water 
And then falling into a whirlpool. 
 
How endlessly those caught up in the floating world suffer. 
Despite myself, I fret over them all night 
And cannot staunch my flow of tears.
 
 
 

~ Ryokan
 
 
Born as Eizō Yamamoto  in the village of Izumozaki Japan,
 his poetry is often very simple and inspired by nature.
 He loved children, and sometimes forgot to beg for food
 because he was playing with the children of the nearby village. 
He refused to accept any position as a priest or even as a poet.



Tuesday, May 3, 2022

stop chasing so many things







My hut lies in the middle of a dense forest;
Every year the green ivy grows long.
No news of the affairs of men,
Only the occasional song of the woodcutter.

The sun shines and I mend my robe.
When the moon comes out, I read Buddhist poems.
I have nothing to report my friends.
If you want to find the meaning, stop chasing so many things.


~ Ryokan


Monday, January 17, 2022

one truth





In all ten directions of the universe,
there is only one truth.
When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same.
What can ever be lost?  What can be attained?
If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time.
If we lose something, it-is hiding somewhere near us.
Look: this ball in my pocket:
can you see how priceless it is?


~ Ryokan


Ryokan's love of children and animals is legendary. 
He often played games with the local children, attested to in his own poetry. 

His reputation for gentleness was sometimes carried to comical extremes. 
One tale is told that, one day when Ryokan returned to his hut 
he discovered a robber who had broken in 
and was in the process of stealing the impoverished monk's few possessions. 
In the thief's haste to leave, he left behind a cushion. 
Ryokan grabbed the cushion and ran after the thief to give it to him. 
This event prompted Ryokan to compose one of his best known poems:

The thief left it behind:
the moon
at my window.




Thursday, March 4, 2021

for you

 
 
 

 
 
For you who
rarely visit,
though you have already arrived,
may the early evening storm
not blow so hard!
 
 
 
 
~ Ryokan
 from Sky Above, Great Wind
by Kazuaki Tanahashi
photo by Wolverson Photography
 
 
 

Sunday, October 11, 2020

inside the brushwood gate







I don't regard my life
as insufficient.
Inside the brushwood gate
there is a moon;
there are flowers.



~ Ryokan
from Sky Above, Great Wind
by Kazuaki Tanahashi


Thursday, June 18, 2020

before listening







Before listening to the way, do not fail to wash your ears.
Otherwise it will be impossible to listen clearly.

What is washing your ears?
Do not hold on to  your view.
If you cling to it even a little bit,
you will lose your way.

What is similar to you but wrong, you regard as right.
What is different from you but right, you regard as wrong.
You begin with ideas of right and wrong.
But the way is not so.

Seeking answers with closed ears is
like trying to touch the ocean bottom with a pole.




~ Ryokan
from Sky Above, Great Wind



Tuesday, June 16, 2020

to my teacher



.




An old grave hidden away at the foot of a deserted hill, 
Overrun with rank weeds growing unchecked year after year; 
There is no one left to tend the tomb, 
And only an occasional woodcutter passes by. 
Once I was his pupil, a youth with shaggy hair, 
Learning deeply from him by the Narrow River. 
One morning I set off on my solitary journey 
And the years passed between us in silence. 
Now I have returned to find him at rest here; 
How can I honor his departed spirit? 
I pour a dipper of pure water over his tombstone 
And offer a silent prayer. 
The sun suddenly disappears behind the hill 
And I’m enveloped by the roar of the wind in the pines. 
I try to pull myself away but cannot; 
A flood of tears soaks my sleeves.




~ Ryokan
art by Thomas Wood






Friday, May 1, 2020

your hermitage is deep







If your hermitage is deep in the mountains
surely the moon, flowers, and maple trees
will become your friends.

Men of the world passing this way are few,
Dense grass conceals the door
All night in silence, a few wood-chips burn slowly,
As I read the poems of the ancients.



~ Ryokan


Tuesday, April 30, 2019

tired of judging






Written in my hut on a snowy evening


Reflecting over seventy years,
I am tired of judging right from wrong.
Faint traces of a path trodden in deep night snow.
A stick of incense under the rickety window.



~ Ryokan
from Sky Above, Great Wind: The life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan
by Kazuaki Tanahashi


  

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

no one






No one home.
fallen pine needles
scattered at the door.




~ Zen Master Ryokan
from Sky Above, Great Wind 
The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan
by Kazuaki Tanahashi

written in my hut on a snowy evening






Reflecting over seventy years,
I am tired of judging right from wrong.
Faint traces of a path trodden in deep night snow.
A stick of incense under the rickety window.


~ Ryokan 
from Sky Above, Great Wind

Friday, November 17, 2017

There is nothing but this

.




First days of spring - blue sky, bright sun. Everything is gradually becoming fresh and green. Carrying my bowl, I walk slowly to the village. The children, surprised to see me, Joyfully crowd about, bringing My begging trip to an end at the temple gate. I place my bowl on top of a white rock and Hang my sack from the branch of a tree. Here we play with the wild grasses and throw a ball. For a time, I play catch while the children sing; Then it is my turn. Playing like this, here and there, I have forgotten the time. Passers-by point and laugh at me, asking, "What is the reason for such foolishness?" No answer I give, only a deep bow; Even if I replied, they would not understand. Look around! There is nothing but this.


~ Ryokan

Monday, April 18, 2016

wind in the vast sky








If someone asks
about the mind of this monk,
say it is no more than
a passage of wind
in the vast sky.



~ Ryokan


Thursday, April 2, 2015

if someone asks







If someone asks
about the mind of this monk,
say it is no more than 
a passage of wind
in a vast sky.




~ Ryokan
from The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan
by Kazuaki Tanahashi


Thursday, February 3, 2011

blending




.

Ryokan's Hut 
located at the present day Gogo-an temple in Niigate prefecture Japan
.


Blending with the wind, 
Snow falls; 
Blending with the snow, 
The wind blows. 
By the hearth 
I stretch out my legs, 
Idling my time away 
Confined in this hut. 
Counting the days, 
I find that February, too, 
Has come and gone 
Like a dream.

.
~ Ryokan
from Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf: Zen Poems of Ryokan
 translated by John Stevens




.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

transparent




.

.

Like the little stream 
Making its way 
Through the mossy crevices 
I, too, quietly 
Turn clear and transparent.

.
~ Daigu Ryokan (1758-1831)

from Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf: Zen Poems of Ryokan
 translated by John Stevens

.