The clear water sparkles like crystal,
you can see through it easily, right to the bottom.
My mind is free from every thought,
nothing in the myriad realms can move it.
Since it cannot be wantonly roused,
forever and forever it will stay unchanged.
When you have learned to know in this way,
you’ll know there is no inside or out.
Generosity
Yes, there are stingy people,
but I’m not one of the stingy kind.
The robe I wear is flimsy? The better to dance in.
Wine gone? It went with a toast and a song.
Just so you keep your belly full-
never let those two legs go weary.
When the weeds are poking through your skull,
that’s the day you’ll have regrets!
Non Ado
Today I sat before the cliff,
sat a long time till mists had cleared.
A single thread, the clear stream runs cold;
a thousand yards the green peaks lift their heads.
White clouds – the morning light is still.
Moonrise – the lamp of night drifts upward.
Body free from dust and stain,
what cares could trouble my mind?
The Pearl
Cold cliffs, more beautiful the deeper you enter –
yet no one travels this road.
White clouds idle about the tall crags;
on the green peak a single monkey wails.
What other companions do I need?
I grow old doing as I please.
Though face and form alter with the years,
I hold fast to the pearl of the mind.