Li Shangyin (813-858)

A CICADA

Pure of heart and therefore hungry,
All night long you have sung in vain --
Oh, this final broken indrawn breath
Among the green indifferent trees!
Yes, I have gone like a piece of driftwood,
I have let my garden fill with weeds....
I bless you for your true advice
To live as pure a life as yours.

Po Chu-i (772-846)

Grass on the Ancient Plain

So tender, so tender, the grasses on the plain,
in one year, to wither, then flourish.
Wild fire cannot burn them away.
Spring breezes’ breath, they spring again.
Their distant fragrance on the ancient way,
Their sunlit emerald greens the ruined walls.
Seeing you off again, dear friend.
Sighing, sighing, full of parting’s pain.

Yang Wan-li (1127-1206)

Listening to the Rain

A year ago my boat, homeward bound,
moored at Yen-ling -
I was kept awake all night by the rain
beating against the sails.
Last night the rain fell on the thatched roof
of my house.
I dreamed of the sound of rain
beating against the sails.

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

awakened

by Matsuo Basho

English version by Gabriel Rosenstock
Original Language Japanese

awakened
     as ice bursts
          the water jar

Ono no Komachi (825-900)

Though I go to you
ceaselessly along dream paths,
the sum of those trysts
is less than a single glimpse
granted in the waking world.

Yuan Mei (1716-1797)

Just Done

A month alone behind closed doors
forgotten books, remembered, clear again.
Poems come, like water to the pool
Welling,
up and out,
from perfect silence

Wang Wei (699-759)

In Answer

 

In these quiet years growing calmer,

Lacking knowledge of the world’s affairs,

I stop worrying how things will turn out.

My quiet mind makes no subtle plans.

Returning to the woods I love

A pine-tree breeze rustles in my robes.

Mountain moonlight fills the lute’s bowl,

Shows up what learning I have left.

If you ask what makes us rich or poor

Hear the Fisherman’s voice float to shore.

 

Note: In the old tale the message of the Fisherman is that the Taoist must dip his feet in the muddy water (of the world) but should wash his hat-strings in the clear water (of the Tao).

The Vegetable Root Discourses (Caigentan)

There is an old saying:   The bamboo shadow cannot dust off the steps.   The sun penetrates the pond leaving no trace on the water.   Our Scholar says :   Though the stream flows swiftly by, the scene is forever still.   While the flowers are wilting rapidly, my mind is cool.   Treats things this way and how at ease I would be.  

Mizuho Ota (1876-1955)

As it becomes stormlike 
in daytime, in the river bed 
on the rocks there are 
restless and confused 
crows that are crying out.