Fall Gold by Lisa Ernst
My legacy —
What will it be?
Flowers in spring,
The cuckoo in summer,
And the crimson maples
Of autumn…
~Ryokan
The Maples of Autumn
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Category Archives: Poetry
A Lightning Flash Or A Dewdrop
To what shall I compare this life of ours?
Even before I can say
it is like a lightning flash or a dewdrop
it is no more.
– Sengai
Last of The Light
The door of the heart opens slowly
then opens wide
into a warm summer night.
Last of the light as fireflies blink
and cicadas pulse the air
with all their might,
sink into my bones
shake me up,
show me who I am.
Living and dying each moment
in silence and sound
twilight passes,
night settles in.
The Nature of Mind
“I came to realize clearly that mind is no other than mountains and rivers and the great wide Earth, the sun and the moon and the stars.”
~~ Eihei Dogen
This Very Place
How boundless the cleared sky of Samadhi!
How transparent the perfect moonlight of the Fourfold Wisdom!
At this moment what more need we seek?
As the Truth eternally reveals itself,
This very place is the Lotus Land of Purity,
This very body is the Body of the Buddha.
– Song of Meditation, Hakuin Ekaku Zenji
The End of Spring
Must springtime fade?
then cry all birds . . .
and fishes
Cold pale eyes pour tears
~ Basho
Wind and Clouds
The wind traverses the vast sky,
clouds emerge from the mountains;
Feelings of enlightenment and things of the world
are of no concern at all.
~ Zen Master Keizan Jõkin
Nothing Lasts
Nothing in the cry
of cicadas suggests they
are about to die
– Basho
Beneath Cherry Blossoms
“What a strange thing!
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms.”
– Issa
Gratitudue Overcomes Me
A Shroud of Mist
by Lisa Ernst
Whatever it is, I cannot understand it
Although gratitude stubbornly overcomes me
Until I am reduced to tears.
– Saigyo
The Lotus Blooms in The Mud 