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

 

 

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

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

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


.

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