RyÅkan Taigu - 19th Century Japanese Soto monk who is famous for both his poems and calligraphy.
When all thoughts
Are exhausted
I slip into the woods
And gather
A pile of shepherd’s purse.
Like the little stream
Making its way
Through the mossy crevices
I, too, quietly
Turn clear and transparent.
The wind has settled, the blossoms have fallen;
Birds sing, the mountains grow dark --
This is the wondrous power of Buddhism.
It is truly amazing the power that a few words, placed so skillfully together, can have to a reader or a student. Keeping alive that magnificent spirit of raw minimalist expression, that the patriarchs perfected over 1,500 years ago, these poems and koans do indeed speak directly to the heart of Zen practice.
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