Poem of the Day

The monkey is reaching
For the moon in the water.
Until death overtakes him
He’ll never give up.
If he’d let go the branch and
Disappear in the deep pool,
The whole world would shine
With dazzling pureness.

-

Hakuin

How reluctantly
the bee emerges from deep
within the peony

- Basho

~

Old pond,
frog jumps in
- splash

- Basho

~

Lightning:
Heron’s cry
Stabs the darkness

- Basho

Midnight, No waves,
no wind, the empty boat
is flooded with moonlight.

- Dogen

Translated by: Stephen Mitchell
From: The Enlightened Heart, An Anthology of Sacred Poetry

When mortals are alive, they worry about death.
When they’re full, they worry about hunger.
Theirs is the Great Uncertainty.

But sages don’t consider the past.
And they don’t worry about the future.
Nor do they cling to the present.
And from moment to moment they follow the Way.

By: Bodhidharma

Zen Poems 

For the man who says
He tires of his child
There are no flowers

Basho

The Burning sun
Sunk in the sea
By the Mogami river

Basho

That soon they will die
Is unknown
To the chirping cicadas

Basho

Not spring nor autumn
None touch the heights of Fuji

Baishitsu

Across the summer stream
With such joy
My sandals in my hand

Buson

Oh my… Oh my…
Was all I could say
Of the flowers on Mount Yoshino

Teishitsu

The Autumn moon
Shining so brightly
So I wrote this.

Sekkei

Cry not, insects
For even stars in love
Must endure separation.

Issa

Watching the cormorant fishing boats
In time
I was full of sorrow.

Basho

Some villages have no sea bream
Some no flowers
But all see tonight’s moon.

Saikaku

In field nor mountain, nothing stirs
On this snowy morning.

Chiyo – Ni

But for their cries,
The herons would be lost
Amidst the morning snow.

Chiyo – Ni

I break my fast
Amidst the morning glory.

Basho

In the spring rain
All things grow beautiful.

Chiyo Ni