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!

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.

Saigyo Hoshi (1118-1190)

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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