Bamboo and Plum Blossom

Bamboo and Plum Blossom

Bamboo and Plum Blossom

Bamboo and Plum Blossom
Bamboo and Plum Blossom

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Fan Chengda (1126-1193)



White Cloud Gorge
Fan Chengda

These twin streams, do they flow from the Milky Way?
I long to trace their source, ask at sylph's bower.
Scudding surf, splattering spray, batters my blue boat,
Look up! Two cliffs split the heavens!
Shu-Shu, light summer rain, slippery stone steps,
Tse-Tse, incessant alpine wind, fills my towering sail.
Solitary quest, perilous, great marvels emerge,
Don't laugh at Tuizhi, who howled on Mount Tai!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Su Shi (Su Tung P'o-1037-1101)



The Arbour to Joyful Rain

by: Su Shi

translated by Herbert A. Giles

Should Heaven rain pearls, the cold cannot wear them as clothes;
Should Heaven rain jade, the hungry cannot use it as food.
It has rained without cease for three days--
Whose was the influence at work?
Should you say it was that of your Governor,
The Governor himself refers it to the Son of Heaven.
But the Son of Heaven says "No! It was God."
And God says "No! It was Nature."
And as Nature lies beyond the ken of man,
I christen this arbour instead.

















The Arbour to Joyful Rain

by: Su Shi (1037-1101)

translated by Herbert A. Giles







Should Heaven rain pearls, the cold cannot wear them as clothes;
Should Heaven rain jade, the hungry cannot use it as food.
It has rained without cease for three days--
Whose was the influence at work?
Should you say it was that of your Governor,
The Governor himself refers it to the Son of Heaven.
But the Son of Heaven says "No! It was God."
And God says "No! It was Nature."
And as Nature lies beyond the ken of man,
I christen this arbour instead.




Friday, March 29, 2013

Saigyo Hoshi (1118-1190)



Now I understand!
When to remember me
She vowed,
She said she would forget me,
But kindly!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Bai Juyi (772-846)



A Visit to Qiantang Lake in Spring
Bai Juyi

Gushan Temple is to the north, Jiating pavilion west,
The water's surface now is calm, the bottom of the clouds low.
In several places, the first orioles are fighting in warm trees,
By every house new swallows peck at spring mud.
Disordered flowers have grown almost enough to confuse the eye,
Bright grass is able now to hide the hooves of horses.
I most love the east of the lake, I cannot come often enough
Within the shade of green poplars on White Sand Embankment.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Lady Izumi Shikibu (974-?)



Soon my life will close.
When I am beyond this world
And have forgotten it,
Let me remember only this:
One final meeting with you.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Wang Wei (699-759)



Green-Water Stream



To reach the Yellow-Flowered River

Go by the Green-Water Stream.

A thousand twists and turns of mountain

But the way there can’t be many miles.

The sound of water falling over rocks

And deep colour among pines.

Gently green floating water-plants.

Bright the mirrored reeds and rushes.

I am a lover of true quietness.

Watching the flow of clear water

I dream of sitting on the uncarved rock

casting a line on the endless stream.



Note: The uncarved rock is the Tao. The endless stream is the Tao.


Saturday, March 23, 2013

Wumen Huikai (1183-1260)



A thunderclap under the clear blue sky
All beings on earth open their eyes;
Everything under heaven bows together;
Mount Sumeru leaps up and dances.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Lao Tzu (400 BC)




Dao is an empty vessel,
used without ever being filled,
unfathomably deep, the source of all things,
where sharpness blunts,
knots untangle,
glare mellows,
dust coalesces. So hidden, in nonbeing it is being.
Who knows whose child it is,
this ancestor of the gods?

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Bunan (1603-1676)



The moon's the same old moon,
The flowers exactly as they were,
Yet I've become the thingness
Of all the things I see!

- Bunan

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Li Ching-jau (1084-1151)




Spring In Wu-ling
by Li Ching-jau (Southern Sung Period, 1135 A.D.)

The wind is still,
The earth smells sweet;
The flowers all have fallen here.

As evening comes,
Dejectedly,
I comb my hair.

His things remain
But he is gone;
So everything's over.

When I try to speak
The tears well up.

I hear that spring's
Still at its height
At Double Creek ...

I think of going to sail
The light skiffs there,
But alas, I fear
The grasshopper-boats
At Double Creek
Could never bear
So great a weight
Of sorrow.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

T'ao Ch'ien (365-427)





Reading the Classic of Hills and Seas



In the summer grass and trees have grown.

Over my roof the branches meet.

Birds settle in the leaves.

I enjoy my humble place.

Ploughing’s done, the ground is sown,

Time to sit and read my book.

The narrow deeply-rutted lane

Means my friends forget to call.

Content, I pour the new Spring wine,

Go out and gather food I’ve grown.

A light rain from the East,

Blows in on a pleasant breeze.

I read the story of King Mu,

See pictures of the Hills and Seas.

One glance finds all of heaven and earth.

What pleasures can compare with these?



Note: King Mu (1001-947BC) of the Chou Dynasty dined with the Queen of the Immortals, Si Wang Mu, in the Western Paradise (among the Kun-lun mountains of Tibet). There she tended the garden where the peach-tree grew that supported the Universe. Her Paradise was that of exalted purity, the jade or pearl mountain, entered through a golden door. The peaches conferred immortality. She later visited Emperor Wu Ti of Han (r.141-97BC) riding on a white dragon, gave him a peach from the tree, and taught him the secrets of eternal life. Wu built a tower with a golden vase on its summit to collect the pure dew that dripped from the stars.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481)



To Lady Mori with Deepest Gratitude and Thanks



The tree was barren of leaves but you brought a new spring.
Long green sprouts, verdant flowers, fresh promise.
Mori, if I ever forget my profound gratitude to you,
Let me burn in hell forever.


Ikkyu Sojun

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Wang Wei (699-759)



Elder-Cliff Cove
.
At the mouth of Elder-Cliff, a rebuilt house
among old trees, broken remnants of willow.

Those to come: who will they be, their grief
over someone's long-ago life here empty.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Du Fu (712-770)



REMEMBERING MY BROTHERS ON A MOONLIGHT NIGHT




A wanderer hears drums portending battle.
By the first call of autumn from a wildgoose at the border,
He knows that the dews tonight will be frost.
...How much brighter the moonlight is at home!
O my brothers, lost and scattered,
What is life to me without you?
Yet if missives in time of peace go wrong --
What can I hope for during war?

Friday, March 15, 2013

Ono no Komachi (825-900)



In This World



In this world
the living grow fewer,
the dead increase
how much longer
must I carry this body of grief?


Ono no Komachi

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Bai Juyi (772-846)



Regret for Peony Flowers
Bai Juyi

I'm saddened by the peonies before the steps, so red,
As evening came I found that only two remained.
Once morning's winds have blown, they surely won't survive,
At night I gaze by lamplight, to cherish the fading red.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Fujiwara no Kinto (966-1041)



Fujiwara no Kinto

Though the waterfall
Ceased its flowing long ago,
And its sound is stilled,
Yet, in name it ever flows,
And in fame may yet be heard.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Song Zhiwhen (660-710)



INSCRIBED ON THE WALL OF AN INN
NORTH OF DAYU MOUNTAIN

They say that wildgeese, flying southward,
Here turn back, this very month....
Shall my own southward journey
Ever be retraced, I wonder?
...The river is pausing at ebb-tide,
And the woods are thick with clinging mist --
But tomorrow morning, over the mountain,
Dawn will be white with the plum-trees of home.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Lao Tsu (604-521 BC)




1 – The Tao That can be Trodden


The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao.
The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.
(Conceived of as) having no name,
it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a name,
it is the Mother of all things.

Always without desire we must be found,
If its deep mystery we would sound;
But if desire always within us be,
Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.

Under these two aspects, it is really the same;
but as development takes place, it receives the different names.
Together we call them the Mystery.
Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that
is subtle and wonderful.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Bunan (1602-1676)



The moon's the same old moon,
The flowers exactly as they were,
Yet I've become the thingness
Of all the things I see!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Sougi (1421-1502)



That man's life is but a dream -
is what we now come to know.

Its house abandoned,
the garden has become home
to butterflies.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Li Po (Li Bai-701-762)



Ring around the moon, wind from heaven,
fog unopening.
The sea's leviathans crush eastward;
rivers run back in their courses.
Waves shaken rise together,
Three Mountains moves.
My lord, cross not the river,
turn back home

Monday, March 4, 2013

Wang Wan (693-751)



A MOORING UNDER NORTH FORT HILL

Under blue mountains we wound our way,
My boat and 1, along green water;
Until the banks at low tide widened,
With no wind stirring my lone sail.
...Night now yields to a sea of sun,
And the old year melts in freshets.
At last I can send my messengers --
Wildgeese, homing to Loyang.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Cen Can (715-770)



A MESSAGE TO CENSOR Du Fu
AT HIS OFFICE IN THE LEFT COURT

Together we officials climbed vermilion steps,
To be parted by the purple walls....
Our procession, which entered the palace at dawn,
Leaves fragrant now at dusk with imperial incense.
...Grey heads may grieve for a fallen flower,
Or blue clouds envy a lilting bird;
But this reign is of heaven, nothing goes wrong,
There have been almost no petitions.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Tao Qian (365-427)



Drinking wine

Tao Qian


I’ve made my home among people,
yet I hear no noise of cart horses.

You ask how am I able to do that?
A heart in a far place seeks its own.

I pick chrysanthemums from the east hedge
and gaze, at leisure, on South Mountain.

In this mountain air, day is beautiful — and night too;
birds fly out, then return together.

These facts all have a clear meaning;
I want to argue for my points, but already forget to speak.