From the beginning
the flying birds have left
no footprints on the blue sky
Musō Soseki, 1275 – 1351, Zen Buddhist Monk, calligraphy artist and garden designer, 1275 – 1351
Let nothing disturb you
Tag: impermanence
Created anew
Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange
sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again
and fasten themselves to the high branches —
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands
of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails
for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it
the thorn
that is heavier than lead —
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging —
there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted —
each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,
whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.
Mary Oliver, Morning Poem
Holding both
Though the years are sad,
the days have a way of being jubilant
Edith Wharton’s autobiography, A Backward Glance
Inner freedom
Life is not accomplishing some special work
but attaining to a degree of consciousness and inner freedom which is beyond all works and attainments.
That is my real goal.
It implies “becoming unknown and as nothing”.
Thomas Merton
Without distinction
When things no longer have the ability to offend you,
they cease to exist in the old way.
Jianzhi Sengcan, died 606, the Third Zen Patriarch
The leaf falls
This sublime poem by Ryōkan, written toward the end of his life, sees all of life in the falling maple leaf. Just like the leaf shows both front and back, life is filled with good times and challenging times, moments of happiness and unhappiness, ups and downs. We can learn from Ryōkan who simply observes the naturalness of what’s happening, without adding “it’s sad the leaf is dying. It’s sad it is falling down.” The existence of the leaf is a series of transformations and it will turn into soil, to support new life.
Showing its front
Showing its back
The maple leaf falls
Ryōkan, 1758 – 1831, Buddhist monk and hermit
Mindfulbalance 