A hand
shifts our birdcages around.
Some are brought closer. Some move
apart. Do not try to reason it out.
Be conscious of who draws
you and who
not.
Posts Tagged → emptiness
turn your light inward
the mind unconcerned with name or gain
You
should therefore cease
from practice based on intellectual
understanding, pursuing words and following
after speech, and learn the backward step that turns
your light inwardly to illuminate your self. Body and mind
of themselves will drop away, and your original face
will be manifest. If you want to attain
suchness you should practice
suchness without
delay.
carry your heart like a sun
You
could become a
great horseman and help
to free yourself and this world though
only if you and prayer become sweet lovers.
It is a naive man who thinks we are not engaged in a
fierce battle, for I see and hear brave foot soldiers
all around me going mad, falling on the ground
in excruciating pain. You could become a
victorious horseman and carry your
heart through this world like a
life-giving sun though only
if you and God become
sweet lovers.
quiet strength insures success
An
unavoidable time of adversity.
Quiet strength insures a
later success.
It is a time
of oppression and exhaustion.
None of us escapes such moments; they are simply
a part of living. By meeting them in the correct spirit and
cheerfully bending instead of breaking, you weather
the adversity and meet with success
at a later time.
Inferior elements,
either in one’s self, another,
or the larger world, interfere now to
restrain the superior person. It is foolish to fight
against the restraint; success is simply not possible now.
Rid yourself of the desire to progress and return
to neutrality and acceptance. The stubborn
pursuit of results will bring
misfortune.
With others,
quietness and equanimity are
the watchwords of the moment. Say little,
and say it gently. A similar reticence and gentleness
should be applied to yourself. Do not lapse into
impatience or mistrust of the Deity. Accept
that the Creative often works in a way
that we cannot see or
understand.
A feeling of
despair or depression is a sign
that you are holding a false belief.
To perpetuate an untruth about yourself,
another, or the Sage is to block your own
happiness. Root out and remove any
idea or attitude which
causes negative
feelings.
By opening
your mind, quieting your heart,
and calmly holding to proper principles,
you make it possible for the Creative
to eliminate the oppression
that currently
exists.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Hexagram 47, K’un / Oppression (Exhaustion)
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I was like an old tree until we met
stilted koans are all monks have
Ikkyü also had a hermitage in Kyoto which he called Katsuroan (Blind Donkey Hermitage), and often stayed at Daitokuji. But increasingly, to the point of anguish, he became disgusted with worldly carryings on at the main temple, shuddering at the…frantic hustling for donations:
Yoso hangs up ladles baskets useless donations in the temple
my style’s a straw raincoat strolls by rivers and lakes
*
ten fussy days running this temple all red tape
look me up if you want to in the bar whorehouse fish market
In 1471, when seventy-seven, Ikkyü revealed his passion for a blind girl, an attendant at the Shuon’an Temple at Takigi. He wrote poems about their affair, some farcical, some very moving. He was self-conscious at the oddness of an old zen monk falling for a young woman, but they spent years together, Ikkyü’s feeling for her growing in intensity:
I love taking my new girl blind Mori on a spring picnic
I love seeing her exquisite free face its moist sexual heat shine
*
your name Mori means forest like the infinite fresh
green distances of your blindness
*
I was like an old leafless tree until we met green buds burst and blossom
now that I have you I’ll never forget what I owe you
poems translated by stephen berg in crow with no mouth
prose introduction by lucien stryk