Messages from a Japanese Zen monk March 8, 2009

Ryokan (1758-1831) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk.  He wrote poetry which includes a lot of wisdoms of life and the essence of  Zen life.  I would like to introduce his poems.

 

If there is beauty, there must be ugliness;

If there is right, there must be wrong,

Wisdom and ignorance are complementary,

This is an old truth, don’t think it was discovered recently

“I want this, I want that”

Is nothing but foolishness

I’ll tell you a secret

“All things are impermanent!”

 

The rain has stopped,

the clouds drifted away, and the weather is clear again.

If you heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure.

Abandon the fleeting world, abandon yours,

Then the moon and flowers will guide you along the Way

     

 

Ryokan liked play with kids, he also left the following poem.

     

We throw a little woolen ball back and forth

I don’t want to boast of my skill, but

If someone asks me the secret of my art, I tell him,

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven

   

 

translated by John Stevens (2006). One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen Poetry of Ryokan . Weatherhill

 

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