seclusion
May 29, 2010
I wandered for many years
After leaving the dusty world,
Then built a cozy home
On the blue mountain.
Loving fidelity, I plant a
Thousand bamboos
And a hundred foot pine
As symbols of my integrity.
I plant mums around the wall,
I’m comfortably secluded;
I recite poems in the moonlight;
The sound is crisp and clean.
There’s no pleasure like growing
Old on the mountain.
Why should I go crazy
When the road is blocked?
– Buhyu Sunsoo (1543-1615)
nothing special
May 27, 2010
Finding a teacher to learn the truth
Is nothing special
It’s like riding a cow to return home.
If you can stride freely atop
A hundred foot pole
Countless buddhas will only be
Sparks in your eyes.
– Buhyu Sunsoo (1543-1615)
it’s all good
May 26, 2010
Reality does not need or want to be changed. It has gone to great trouble to establish itself as it is, and it is perfect. This very world of today, as it appears before us in all its glory and horror, is the sacred landscape we live in. What is. Our role is not to arrogantly critique this Great Perfection, picking and choosing in it according to the conventional wisdom of the day; our job is simply to join in with it. And there’s no need to have a poverty mentality about the life in this world. It is not now and has never been in any danger. No matter what happens on this planet, there will always be plenty of good life-filled worlds for us to join in with.
– John McClellan, from “Nondual Ecology”
open mind
May 25, 2010
Mind is unlimited. So therefore, you have many different conceptions and different phenomena’s, because your mind’s unlimited. The only limitation is in the way of thinking.
-Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
working hard while hardly working
May 24, 2010
The person who is free and easy
Beyond every boundary, is enlightened.
He doesn’t hoe much,
But there are no weeds in his field.
– Jungkwan Haean (b 1567)
the impartial way
May 20, 2010
Acts at random,
In ignorance of
The constant, bode ill.
Knowing the constant
Gives perspective;
This perspective is impartial.
Impartiality is the highest nobility;
The highest nobility is divine,
And the divine is the Way.
This Way is everlasting,
Not endangered by physical death.
– Tao-te Ching
original buddha
May 19, 2010
Cut and drilled into, the blue cliff
Has lost its original beauty,
And frightens the birds,
And spills dirt into your eyes.
Nirvana has nothing to do with stones.
Enlightenment isn’t limited to man.
Mountains, water, and earth
Are the Buddha’s bodies.
– Jungkwan Haean (b 1567)
suchness
May 16, 2010
The spiritual light shines alone,
Far transcending the senses
And their fields;
The essential substance is exposed,
Real and eternal.
It is not contained in written words.
The nature of mind has no defilement;
It is basically perfect and complete in itself.
Just get rid of delusive attachments,
And merge with realization of thusness.
– Pai-chang (720–814)
tao art
May 14, 2010
When rain-washed coils of mountain
Appear in the sky
A refreshing wind sweeps away
The fog and clouds.
Where did you acquire the mastery
Of Yongmyon
To paint exquisite beauty
Beyond human art?
– Jaewol Kyunghun (1542-1632)
show me the way
May 9, 2010
Fallen leaves hide the mountain path.
No one around to ask directions.
An old monk sweeps the ground.
A novice rushes up to greet me.
– Jungkwan Ilson (1533-1608)
