THE PENGUIN BOOK OF ZEN POETRY

London 1977

Translated into English
by Lucien Stryk
and Shinkichi Takahashi
 
 
 

Poems by Japanese Masters
 
 

Coming, going, the waterfowl
Leaves not a trace,
Nor does it need a guide.
          Dogen (1200-53)

The Western Patriarch's doctrine is transplanted!
I fish by moonlight, till on cloudy days.
Clean, clean! Not a worldly mote falls with the snow
As, cross-legged in the mountain hut, I sit all the evening through.
          Dogen

Unfettered at last, a traveling monk,
I pass the old Zen barrier.
Mine is a traceless stream-and-cloud life,
Of these mountains, which shall be my home?
       Manan (1591-1654)

Whirled by the three passions, one's eyes go blind;
Closed to the world of things, they see again.
In this way I live; straw-hatted, staff in hand,
I move illimitably, through earth, through heaven.
       Ungo (1580-1659)

The all-meaning circle:
No in, no out;
No light, no shade.
Here all saints are born.
          Shoichi (1202-80)

Vainly I dug for a perfect sky,
Piling a barrier all around.
Then one black night, lifting a heavy
Tile, I crushed the skeletal void.
          Muso  (1275-1351)

Many times the mountain have turned from green to yellow --
So much for the capricious earth!
Dust in your eyes, the triple world is narrow;
Nothing on the mind, your chair is wide enough.
       Muso

To slice through Buddhas, Patriarchs
I grip my polished sword.
One glance at my mastery,
The void bites its tusks!
       Daito (1282-1337)

The myriad differences resolved by sitting, all doors opened.
In this still place I follow my nature, be what it may.
From the one hundred flowers I wander freely,
The soaring cliff -- my hall of meditation
(With the moon emerged, my mind is motionless).
Sitting on this frosty seat, no more dream of fame.
The forest, the mountain follow their ancient ways,
And through the long spring day, not even the shadow of a bird.
          Reizan (?-1411)

He who holds that nothingness
Is formless, flowers are visions,
Let him enter boldly!
       Inscription on the door of
          Gido (1325-88)

For 72 years
I've kept the ox well under.
Today, the plum in bloom again,
I let him wander in the snow.
       Bokuo (1384-1455)

My eyes eavesdrop on their lashes!
I'm finished with the ordinary!
What use has halter, bridle
To one who's shaken off contrivance?
       Eichu (1340-1416)

Earth, mountains, rivers -- hidden in this nothingness.
In this nothingness -- earth, mountains, rivers revealed.
Spring flowers, winter snows:
There's no being nor non-being, nor denial itself.
       Saisho (?-1506)

Splitting the void in half,
Making smithereens of earth,
I watch inching towards
The river, the cloud-drawn moon.
       Nanei (1363-1430)

   Void is Form
When, just as they are,
White dewdrops gather
On scarlet maple leaves,
Regard the scarlet beads!

   Form is Void
The tree is stripped,
All color, fragrance gone,
Yet already on the bough,
Uncaring spring!
       Ikkyu (1394-1481)

After ten years in the red-light district,
How solitary a spell in the mountains.
I can see clouds a thousand miles away,
Hear ancient music in the pines.
          Ikkyu

Why, it's but the motion of eyes and brows!
And here I've been seeking it far and wide.
Awakened at last, I find the moon
Above the pines, river surging high.
       Yuishun (?-1544)

Beware of gnawing the ideogram of nothingness:
Your teeth will crack. Swallow it whole, and you've a treasure
Beyond the hope of Buddha and the Mind. The east breeze
Fondles the horse's ears: how sweet the smell of plum.
       Karasumaru-Mitsuhiro (1579-1638)

The seven seas sucked up together,
The dragon god's exposed.
Backwards flows the stream of Soto Zen:
Enlightened at last, I breathe!
       Gesshu (1618-96)

Past, present, future: unattainable,
Yet clear as the moteless sky.
Late at night the stool's cold as iron,
But the moonlit window smells of plum.
       Hakuin (1685-1768)

How lacking in permanence the minds of the sentient --
They are the consummate nirvana of all Buddhas.
A wooden hen, egg in mouth, straddles the coffin.
An earthenware horse breaks like wind for satori-land.
       Hakuin

You no sooner attain the great void
Than body and mind are lost together.
Heaven and Hell -- a straw.
The Buddha-realm, Pandemonium -- shambles.
Listen: a nightingale strains her voice, serenading the snow.
Look: a tortoise wearing a sword climbs the lampstand.
Should you desire the great tranquillity,
Prepare to sweat white beads.
          Hakuin

Priceless is one's incarnation,
Turning a red-hot iron ball to butter oil.
Heaven? Purgatory? Hell?
Snowflakes fallen on the hearth fire.
          Hakuin

It's not nature that upholds utility.
Look! even the rootless tree is swelled
With bloom, not red nor white, but lovely all the same.
How many can boast so fine a springtide?
          Gudo (1579-1661)

When you are both alive and dead,
Thoroughly dead to yourself,
How superb
The smallest pleasure!
          Bunan

Content with chipped bowl and tattered robe,
My life moves on serenely.
The single task: allaying hunger, thirst,
Indifferent to the murmurous world.
          Tosui (?-1683)

One minute of sitting, one inch of Buddha.
Like lightning all thoughts come and pass.
Just once look into your mind-depths:
Nothing else has ever been.
          Manzai (1635-1714)

Under the cloudy cliff, near the temple door,
Between dusky spring plants on the pond,
A frog jumps in the water, plop!
Startled, the poet drops his brush.
          Sengai (1750-1837)

Without a jot of ambition left
I let my nature flow where it will.
There are ten days of rice in my bag
And, by the hearth, a bundle of firewood.
Who prattles of illusion or nirvana?
Forgetting the equal dusts of name and fortune,
Listening to the night rain on the roof of my hut,
I sit at ease, both legs stretched out.
    Ryokan (1757-1831)

Clear in the blue, the moon!
Icy water to the horizon,
Defining high, low. Startled,
The dragon uncoils about the billows.
          Ryuzan (1274-1358)

I moved across the Dharma-nature,
The earth was buoyant, marvelous.
That very night, whipping its iron horse,
The void galloped into Cloud Street.
          Getsudo (1285-1361)

He's part of all, yet all's transcended;
Solely for convenience he's known as master.
Who dares say he's found him?
In this rackety town I train disciples.
          Chikusen (1292-1348)

For all these years, my certain Zen:
Neither I nor the world exist.
The sutras neat within the box,
My cane hooked upon the wall,
I lie at peace in moonlight.
Or, hearing water plashing on the rock,
Sit up: none can purchase pleasure such as this:
Spangled across the step-moss, a million coins!
          Shutaku (1308-88)

Mind set free in the Dharma-realm,
I sit at the moon-filled window
Watching the mountains with my ears,
Hearing the stream with my eyes.
Each molecule preaches perfect law,
Each moment chants true sutra:
The most fleeting thought is timeless,
A single hair's enough to stir the sea.
          Shutaku

Men without rank, excrement spatulas,
Come together, perfuming earth and heaven.
How well they get along in temple calm
As, minds empty, they reach for light.
          Guchu (1323-1409)

How heal the phantom body of its phantom ill,
Which started in the womb?
Unless you pluck a medicine from the Bodhi-tree,
The sense of karma will destroy you.
          Tesshu (14c)

Why bother with the world?
Let other go grey, bustling east, west.
In this mountain temple, lying half-in,
Half-out, I'm removed from joy and sorrow.
          Ryushu (1308-88)

Invaluable is the Soto Way --
Why be discipline's slave?
Snapping the golden chain,
Step boldly towards the sunset!
          Gasan (1275-1365)

Thoughts arise endlessly,
There's a span to every life.
One hundred years, 36 thousand days:
The spring through, the butterfly dreams.
          Daichi (1290-1366)

Beyond the snatch of time, my daily life.
I scorn the State, unhitch the Universe.
Denying cause and effect, like the noon sky,
My up-down career: Buddhas nor Patriarchs can convey it.
          Juo (1296-1380)

Life: a cloud crossing the peak.
Death: the moon sailing.
Oh just once admit the truth
Of noumenon, phenomenon,
And you're a donkey-tying pole!
          Mumon (1323-90)

Riding backwards this wooden horse,
I'm about to gallop through the void.
Would you seek to trace me?
Ha! Try catching the tempest in a net.
     Kukoku (1328-1407)

The void has collapsed upon the earth,
Stars, burning, shoot across Iron Mountain.
Turning a somersault, I brush past.
           Zekkai (1336-1405)

Serving the Shogun in the capital,
Stained by worldly dust, I found no peace.
Now, straw hat putted down, I follow the river:
How fresh the sight of gulls across the sand!
           Kodo (1370-1433)

Only genuine awakening results in That.
Only fools seek sainthood for reward.
Lifting a hand, the stone lantern announces daybreak.
Smiling, the void nods its enormous head.
      Nensho (1409-82)

Unaware of illusion or enlightenment,
From this stone I watch the mountains, hear the stream.
A three-day rain has cleansed the earth,
A roar of thunder split the sky.
Ever serene are linked phenomena,
And though the mind's alert, it's but an ash heap.
Chilly, bleak as the dusk I move through,
I return, a basket brimming with peaches on my arm.
      Genko (?-1505)

Taking hold, one's astray in nothingness;
Letting go, the Origin's regained.
Since the music stopped, no shadow's touched
My door: again the village moon's above the river.
            Kokai (1403-69)

Who dares approach the lion's
Mountain cave? Cold, robust,
A Zen-man through and through,
I let the spring breeze enter at the gate.
            Daigu (1584-1669)

Though night after night
The moon is stream-reflected,
Try to find where it has touched,
Point even to a shadow.
            Takuan (1573-1645)

Here none think of wealth or fame,
All talk of right and wrong is quelled:
In autumn I rake the leaf-banked stream,
In spring attend the nightingale.
            Daigu

Never giving thought to fame,
One troublesome span of life behind,
Cross-legged in the coffin,
I'm about to slough the flesh.
            Baiho (1633-1707)

A blind horse trotting up an icy ledge --
Such is the poet. Once disburdened
Of those frog-in-the-well illusions,
The sutra-store's a lamp against the sun.
            Kosen (1808-93)

It's as if our heads were of fire, the way
We apply ourselves to the perfection of That.
The future but a twinkle, beat yourself,
Persist: the greatest effort's not enough,
            Kando (1825-1904)

The question clear, the answer deep,
Each particle, each instant a reality,
A bird call shrills through mountain dawn:
Look where the old master sits, a rock, in Zen.
            Sodo (1841-1920)

Master Joshu and the dog --
Truly exorbitant, their foolishness.
Being and non-being at last
Annihilated, speak the final word!
            Soen

The steep slope hangs above
The temple calm. An autumn voyager,
I go by ways neither old nor new,
Finding east, west the mind the same.
            Soen, on visiting Shorin temple
 
 
 

Chinese Enlightenment Poems
 

Ox bridle tossed, vows taken,
I'm robed and shaven clean.
You ask why Bodhidharma came east --
Stuff thrust out, I hum like mad.
              Reito

Twenty years a pilgrim,
Footing east, west.
Back in Seiken,
I've not moved an inch.
              Seiken Chiju

Once the goal's reached,
Have a good laugh.
Shaven, you're handsomer --
Those useless eyebrows!
              Kishu

The old master held up fluff
And blew from his palm,
Revealing the Source itself.
Look where clouds hide the peak.
              Kaigen

The mountain -- Buddha's body.
The torrent -- his preaching.
Last night, 84 000 poems.
How, how make them understand?
              Layman Sotoba (11c)

How long the tree's been barren!
At its tip -- long ropes of cloud.
Since I smashed the mud-bull's horns,
The stream's flowed backwards.
              Hoge

Joshu's 'Oak in the courtyard' --
Nobody grasped its roots.
Turned from sweet plum trees,
They pick sour pears on the hill.
              Eian

On the rocky slope, blossoming
Plums -- from where?
Once he saw them, Reiun
Danced all the way to Sandai.
              Hoin

Joshu's 'Oak in the courtyard'
Handed down, yet lost in leafy branch
They miss the root. Disciple Kaku shouts --
'Joshu never said a thing!'
              Monju-Shindo

No dust speck anywhere.
What's old? new?
At home on my blue mountain,
I want for nothing.
              Shofu

Over the peak spreading clouds,
At its source the river's cold.
If you would see,
Climb the mountain top.
              Hakuyo

Loving old priceless things,
I've scorned those seeking
Truth outside themselves:
Here, on the tip of the nose.
              Layman Makusho

Traceless, no more need to hide.
Now the old mirror
Reflects everything -- autumn light
Moistened by faint mist.
              Suian

No mind, no Buddha, no live beings,
Blue peaks ring Five Phoenix Tower.
In late spring light I throw this body
Off -- fox leaps into the lion's den.
              Chifu

Sailing on Men River, I heard
A call: how deep, how ordinary.
Seeking what I'd lost,
I found a host of saints.
              Soan

In serving, serve,
In fighting, kill.
Tokusan, Ganto --
A million-mile bar!
              Jinzu

Years keeping *that* in mind,
Vainly questioning masters.
A herald cries, 'He's coming!'
Liver, gall burst wide.
              Anbun

Seamless --
Touched, it glitters.
Why spread *such* nets
For sparrows?
              Gojusan

Clear, clear -- clearest!
I ran barefoot east and west.
Now more lucid than the moon,
The eighty-four thousand
Dharma gates!
              Moan

I set down the emerald lamp.
Take it up -- exhaustless.
Once lit,
A sister is a sister.
              Gekkutsu-Sei

A deafening peal,
A thief excaped
My body. What
Have I learnt?
The Lord of Nothingness
Has a dark face.
              Layman Yakusai

Not falling, not ignoring --
A pair of mandarin ducks
Alighting, bobbing, anywhere.
              Nan-O-Myo

How vast karma,
Yet what's there
To cling to? Last night,
Turning, I was blinded
By the ray of light.
              Seigen-Yuiin

A thunderbolt -- eyes wide,
All living things bend low.
Mount Sumeru dances
All the way to Sandai.
              Mumon-Ekai (13c)

Where is the dragon's cave?
Dozing this morn in Lord Sunyata's
Palace, I heard the warbler.
Spring breeze shakes loose
The blossoms of the peach.
              Kanzan-Shigyo

No mind, no Buddha, no beings.
Bones of the Void are scattered.
Why should the golden lion
Seek out the fox's lair?
              Tekkan

Earth, river, mountain:
Snowflakes melt in air.
How could I have doubted?
Where's north? south? east? west?
              Dangai

Joshu's word -- Nothingness.
In spring blossoms everywhere.
Now, insight's mine,
Another dust-speck in the eye!
              Kuchu

Seaching Him took
My strength.
One night I bent
My pointing finger --
Never such a moon!
              Keppo
 
 
 

Chinese Death Poems
 

The fiery unicorn swapped
Its golden chain, moon-hare
Flung wide the silver gate:
Welcome, over Mount Shozan,
The midnight moon.
          Daichu

Seventy-six: done
With this life --
I've not sought heaven,
Don't fear hell.
I'll lay this bones
Beyond the Tripple World,
Unenthralled, unperturbed.
          Fuyo-Docai (11c)

A rootless tree,
Yellow leaves scattering
Beyond the blue --
Cloudless, stainless.
          Sozan-Kyonin (9c?)

Sixty-five years,
Fifty-seven a monk.
Disciples, why ask
Where I'm going,
Nostrils to earth?
          Unpo Bun-Etsu

The word at last,
No more dependencies:
Cold moon in pond,
Smoke over the ferry.
          Koko

Sixty-six years
Piling sins,
I leap into hell --
Above life and death.
          Tendo-Nyojo (1163-1228)

Sky's not high, earth not solid --
Try to see! Look,
This day, December 25th,
The Nothern Dipper blazes south.
          Seiho

Way's not for the blind:
Groping, they might as well
Seek in the Dipper.
Old for Zen combat, only
The plough will comprehend:
I'll climb Mount Kongo, a pine.
          Tozan-Gyoso

'No mind, no Buddha',
Disciples prattle.
'Got skin, got marrow'.
Well, goodbye to that.
Beyond, peak glows on peak!
          Shozan

Nothing longed for,
Nothing cast off.
In the Void --
A, B, C, D.
One blunder, another,
Everyone seeking
Western Paradise!
          Layman Yo Ketsu

Sky-piercing sword, gleaming cold,
Cuts Demons, Buddhas, Patriarchs,
Then moonlit, stirred by wind, sinks
In its jewelled scabbard. Iron bulls
Along the river bank plunge everywhere.
          Zuian

This body won't pollute
The flowering slope --
Don't turn that earth.
What need a samadhi flame?
Heaped firewood's good enough.
          Sekioku-Seikyo

Wino, always stumbling,
Yet in drinking
I show most discretion.
Where to wind up,
Sober, this evening?
Somewhere on the river bank
I'll find dawn's moon.
          Homyo

Talking: seven steps, eight falls.
Silent: tripping once, twice.
Zennists everywhere,
Sit, let the mind be.
          Shishin-Goshin (?-1339)

High wind, cold moon,
Long stream through the sky.
Beyond the gate, no shadow --
Four sides, eight directions.
          Shokaku

Today Rakan, riding an iron horse
Backwards, climbs Mount Sumeru.
Galloping through Void,
I'll leave no trace.
          Rakan-Kainan

No more head shaving,
Washing flesh.
Pile high the wood,
Set it aflame!
          Chitsu

Forty-nine years --
What a din!
Eighty-seven springs --
What pleasures!
What's having? not having?
Dreaming, dreaming.
Plum trees snow-laden,
I'm ready!
          Uncho

This fellow, perfect in men's eyes,
Utters the same thing over
And over, fifty-six years. Now
Something new -- spear trees, sword hills!
          Ikuo-Joun

Life's as we
Find it -- death too.
A parting poem?
Why insist?
          Daie-Soko (13c)

Iron tree blooms,
Cock lays an egg.
Over seventy, I cut
The palanquin ropes.
          Wakuan-Shitai (12c)

72 years I have hung
The karma mirror.
Smashing through,
I'm on the Path!
          Ikuo-Myotan

ALL THINGS COME APART.
No saintly sign
In these poor bones --
Strew their ashes
Onto Yangtze waves.
The First Principle, everywhere.
          Daisen

83 years -- at last
No longer muzzled.
The oak's a Buddha,
Void's pulled down.
          Kyorin-Eki

Mount Sumeru -- my fist!
Ocean -- my mouth!
Mountain crumbles, ocean dries.
Where does the jewelled hare leap,
Where reels the golden crow?
          Kiko

78 awkward years --
A clownish lot. The mud-bull
Trots the ocean floor.
In June, snowflakes.
          Ichigen

How Zennists carry on
About the birthless!
What madness makes me toll,
At noon, the midnight bell?
          Gekko-Sojo

Finally out of reach --
No bondage, no dependency.
How calm the ocean,
Towering the Void.
          Tessho

Fifty-three years
This clumsy ox has managed,
Now barefoot stalks
The Void -- what nonsense!
          Sekishitsu-Soei

Coming, I clench my hands,
Going, spread them wide.
Once through the barrier,
A lotus stem will
Drag an elephant!
          Dankyo-Myorin (13c)