A Collection of Zen Poems

One of my Own:

Shallow seas open
Expanding the mind
thought leaves
emotions abate

all is quiet
now I can ((see))

Jen Park

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In this way and that I have tried to save
the old pail
Since the bamboo strip was weakening and
about to break
Until at last the bottom fell out.
No more water in the pail!
No more moon in the water!

-Chiyono's enlightenment poem,
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, 1957, p. 31
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This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.

- The Buddha's Words on Kindness (Metta Sutta)

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Everything
just as it is,
as it is,
as is.
Flowers in bloom.
Nothing to add.

- Robert Aitken, Roshi, As it Is

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The body is the tree of enlightenment,
The mind like a clear mirror stand;
Time and gain wipe it diligently,
Don't let it gather dust.

- Shenxiu

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Two come about because of One,
but don't cling to the One either!
So long as the mind does not stir,
the ten thousand things stay blameless;
no blame, no phenomena,
no stirring, no mind.
The viewer disappears along with the scene,
the scene follows the viewer into oblivion,
for scene becomes scene only through the viewer,
viewer becomes viewer because of the scene.

- Seng-ts'an, 600
Hsin-Hsin-Ming: Inscription on Trust in the Mind
Translated by Burton Watson
Found in Entering the Stream, p. 149
Edited by Samuel Bercholz and Sherab Chodzin Kohn

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Step out onto the Planet.
Draw a circle a hundred feet round.
Inside the circle are
300 things nobody understands, and maybe
nobody's ever seen.
How many can you find?

- Lew Welch
From What Book, 1998, p. 124
Edited by Gary Gach