Lao Tzu

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the
emptiness inside that holds whatever
we want.

Shodoka

Walking is Zen,
Sitting, too, is Zen.
If I speak or am silent,
Tarry or hasten:
Everything, in its true nature,
Is stillness.

Fu Hsun

A gentle wind fans the calm night;
A bright moon shines on the high tower.
A voice whispers, but no one answers when I call:
A shadow stirs, but no one comes when I beckon.
The kitchen man brings in a dish of lentils:
Wine is there, but I do not fill my cup.
Contentment with poverty is fortune's best gift:
Riches and Honour are the handmaids of Disaster.
Though gold and gems by the world are sought and prized,
To me they seem no more than weeds or chaff.

Wang Wei, 699-761

A man as old as a dragon bell, I walk slowly
to visit a meditation temple,
to ask the mean of a good heart. Remotely,
I feel the sickness of the void is itself void.
Mountains and rivers are in the Buddha's eye,
the universe in dharma's body.
Don't be surprised that meditation controls hot days
and raises wind over the land.

Paul Reps

An instant realization sees endless time.
Endless time is as one moment.
When one comprehends the endless moment
He realizes the person who is seeing it.

Izumi Shikibu

Although I try
to hold the single thought
of Buddha's teaching in my heart,
I cannot help but hear
the many crickets' voices calling as well.

Fen-yang

When you are deluded and full of doubt, even a
thousand books of scripture are not enough.
When you have realized understanding,
even one word is too much.

Liu Han

Autumn at the Gate
Liu Han fl. 1190

The quacking is gone the jade screen is empty
My pillow feels cool fanned by the wind
Autumn sounds wake me but where are their traces
Paulownia leaves cover the steps in the moonlight

Mikiko Nakagawa

When that beam of light
came passing over the sea
I as a whiteness
was revealed in the dark, and then
I saw I was all alone. In the darkened fields
the very faintly burning
lights of the houses—
ah, they are more frail even
than the glowing of fireflies.
How far
will that wild duck still go
through evening waves
swollen in the open sea
where it struggles on alone?