Zen Poems of China and Japan by Lucien Stryk

Author:Lucien Stryk
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Published: 1973-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

DEATH

97

Four and fifty years

I’ve hung the sky with stars.

Now I leap through—

What shattering!

—Dogen, 1200–53

98

Fifty-six years, above Buddhas, Patriarchs,

I’ve stood mid-air.

Now I announce my final journey—

Daily sun breaks from the eastern ridge.

—Doyu, 1201–56

99

These eighty-four years,

Still, astir, Zen’s been mine.

My last word?

Spoken before time began.

—Kangan, 1217–1300

100

One thousand and one tumbles,

Ninety-one years through.

Snow covers reeds for miles,

Full in the midnight sky, the moon.

—Tettsu, 1219–1309

101

For eighty-seven years

A bubble on the sea,

Windless, waveless,

Waveless, windless still.

—Muju, 1226–1312

102

What’s life? What’s death?

I blast the Void.

Winds spring up

In every quarter.

—Yuzan, 1301–70

103

Seventy-seven long years

I’ve reviled the Scriptures,

Zen itself. A failure through

And through, I piss on Brahma.

—Isan, 1795–1864

104

South of Mount Sumeru

Who understands my Zen?

Call Master Kido over—

He’s not worth a cent.

—Ikkyu, 1394–1481

105

I’ve walked the world over:

Buddhas and Patriarchs engulfed.

The arrow twanged, sky

Topples to the earth.

—Issan, 1247–1317

106

Moving/resting is meaningless.

Traceless, leaving/coming.

Across moonlit mountains,

Howling wind!

—Unoku, 1248–1321

107

Ask Buddha—he doesn’t know.

Nor do Patriarchs.

Beyond our grasp:

Who was born? Who died?

—Unzan,?

108

Death sitting, death standing—

Bone-heap on the earth.

Void somersaults in the wind—

One final kwatz!

—Koho, 1241–1316

109

Abusing Scripture, cursing Zen,

I’m in my eighty-first year.

As earth and heaven crumble, I plunge

To the blazing fountain underground.

—Giun, 1253–1333

110

Coming and going, life and death:

A thousand hamlets, a million houses.

Don’t you get the point?

Moon in the water, blossom in the sky.

—Gizan, 1802–78

111

Coming, I don’t enter at the gate,

Going, I don’t leave by the door.

This very body

Is the land of tranquil light

—Gyokko, 1315–95

112

Life—not coming.

Death—not returning.

Where there are masterly feats,

The blind donkey hears thunder.

—Gyokuchu, 1522–1604

113

The first illusion

Has lasted seventy-six years.

The final barrier?

Three thousand sins!

—Keisen, 1425–1500

114

Drop by drop, seventy-seven winters,

Water’s turned to ice.

Now this miraculous stroke—

I draw water from the flaming fount.

—Keso, 1352–1428

115

The perfect way out:

There’s no past/present/future.

Dawn after dawn, the sun!

Night after night, the moon!

—Getsudo, 1285–1361

116

For seventy-four years

I’ve touched east, west

My parting word?

Listen—I’ll whisper.

—Kokan, 1770–1843

117

The difficult road:

No coming, no going.

Ask where I dwell?

The mud-ox bellows.

—Kokuo, 13 c.

118

A numskull for eighty-five years!

At last, swinging the body over,

I smite the blue sky.

—Kogetsu, 1668–1752

119

Life and death? Shoving a cart

Against a wall. I’ve pulverized

Mount Sumeru—in the whole

Cosmos-ocean not a trace of wind.

—Jittei, d. 1423

120

Arrival/departure: what difference?

Non-dependent, I go off alone.

Moonlight overspreads the earth.

—Sanso, 1232–1301

121

Fifty-four years I’ve entered

Horses, donkeys, saving limitless beings.

Now, farewell, farewell!

And don’t forget—apply yourselves.

—Jisso, 1851–1904

122

Unaware of coming, going,

I turn back alone.

Caught in the midnight sky,

The moon silvering all.

—Eun, 1232–1301

123

I tongue-lashed wind and rain,

Above Buddhas, Patriarchs.

Lightning’s no match for mind.

—Daio, 1235–1308

124

Seventy-six years,

Unborn, undying:

Clouds break up,

Moon sails on.

—Tokken, 1244–1319

125

I’ve plowed and sown my field,

Bought, sold. Yet it’s ever new,

The young plants burgeoning.

In Buddha Hall a tiller, hoe in hand.

—Keizan, 1268–1325

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