abandon

.

.

The rain has stopped,

the clouds have drifted away,

and the weather is clear again.

If your heart is pure,

then all things in your world are pure.

Abandon this fleeting world,

abandon yourself,

then the moon and the flowers

will guide you along the way.

.

~ Ryokan

photo by  Hideyuki Katagiri

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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

 

 

 

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

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.

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

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.

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

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

  

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

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

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

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

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




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