Ryokan (1758-1831)

Autumn's first drizzle
by Ryokan

English version by John Stevens
Original Language Japanese


Autumn's first drizzle:
How delightful,
The nameless mountain.

Ts'ai-Ken T'an

A crane may seem superior among chickens,
but it will be dwarfed by the Great Peng bird over the ocean.
It is further miniaturized by the Phoenix surfing high in the unreachable space.
So a superior person always tries to be humble and empty.
The most cultivated usually refrains from being snobbish and aggressive.

Tao Chien (365-427)

Lament


The ways of heaven are mysterious,
the spirits pose a problem.

Since childhood, I struggled to do right—
forty-four years of struggle.

Things went bad when I was twenty.
At thirty, I lost my wife.

Fires burned my houses down
and weevils ate my grain.

Winds and rain ruined everything:
I couldn’t fill a mouth.

In summer, we went hungry;
in winter we all slept cold.

Evenings, we longed for the cock crow;
at dawn, we chased away the crows.

It’s my own poor karma, not heaven,
that leaves me troubled and bitter.

A name unearned, left for all the ages,
means no more to me than mist.

Tao Chien

Liu Han (fl 1190)

Autumn at the Gate
Liu Han

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

Du Fu (712-770)

Du Fu
TO LI Po AT THE SKY SEND

A cold wind blows from the far sky....
What are you thinking of, old friend?
The wildgeese never answer me.
Rivers and lakes are flooded with rain.
...A poet should beware of prosperity,
Yet demons can haunt a wanderer.
Ask an unhappy ghost, throw poems to him
Where he drowned himself in the Milo River.

Yuan Zhengzhen (C. 1200)

paddling the lake

to the tune of changxiangsi (long lovesickness)

by Yuan Zhengzhen

to the north
to the south
mountains loom in the clouds

these mountains, this lake,
this scene
as if painted

I pluck a lotus
for pleasure

paddling a red boat
west to east

no path to the one I miss

Po Chu-i (772-846)

An early cricket chirps,
then pauses;
the dying lamp gutters
then flares again.

Outside my window
I know it is raining--
the leaves of the banana
first know its drumming.

Hsu Yun (1840-1959)

YEARS MONTHS DAYS HOURS

One year and then another.
Appearances gradually change.
Bone marrow shrivels.
Eyebrows thin away.

This time-limited body is like a mound of slurry.
In the Triple World, earth, air, fire and water mingle and change.
This is all our emotions allow us to notice
And their sight obstructs our view of Heaven.

One month and then another.
The light and dark pass like melting snow.
No part can be kept for long.
Only the Dharma does not come or go.
The lacquer bowl suddenly breaks.
You are like the Dragon of Heaven - born to be lively and free.
A roc can't live in a crane's nest.
A little jiaoliao bird needs to stay near mosquito ponds.

One day and then another.
They never wear themselves out.
Give up your judgments about everything.
It's all insubstantial in the end.

All things under the sun come to an end and dissolve.
Spend what time you have in honest simplicity.
Just one breath of the Eternal
Admits you to the Great Chamber.

One hour and then another.
Inexorably march, step by step.
Whenever I meet you, we each smile.
But who is it who drags your corpse around?

Steadfast and unchangeable
Always mindful of this or that.
You're young and strong. Exert yourself!
Don't wait... oh please don't wait
Until you're much too old and weak.

Feng-Kan (Big Stick- C750-850)

Sinking like a rock in the sea
drifting through the Three Worlds
poor ethereal creature
ever immersed in scenes
until a flash of lightning shows
life and death are dust in space