Tag: japanese poetry

Death Poems

Mīr Dard Translation: My friends, we have seen enough of this play We are going home, you can stay   Original: دوستو، دیکها تماشا یاں کا بس تُم رہو خوش ہم تو اپنے گھر چلے   (From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khwaja_Mir_Dard)   Kozan Ichikyo Translation: Empty-handed I entered this world Barefoot I leave it My coming and my going…

Rumi and Hakuin: Water and Ice

Hakuin All beings by nature are Buddha, As ice by nature is water. Apart from water there is no ice; Apart from beings, no Buddha. How sad that people ignore the near And search for truth afar: Like someone in the midst of water Crying out in thirst, Like a child of a wealthy home…

Zen and the snowman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJI5gaWuf6w&nohtml5=False At the peak of my soul’s depths I sit in silent reverie The sun above, weather below The vast blue breathes in, out of me   The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; And have been…