Status Updates From One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen...

Many of those poems make me feel melancholy. They are beautiful, but always seem to have a tinge of loneliness. It makes me wonder if being an isolated monk w no other monks around would be the most arduous part. Without spending time with people who understand me, I feel lost and very alone even when there are people around me. It must be hard to think this way and have no one to even talk to about it.

Green mountains front and back,
White clouds east and west.
Even if I met a fellow traveler,
No news could I give him.

With no-mind, blossoms invite the butterfly;
With no-mind, the butterfly visits the blossoms.
When the flower blooms, the butterfly comes;
When the butterfly comes, the flower blooms.
I do not “know” others,
Others do not “know” me.
Not-knowing each other we naturally follow the Way.

THE ISLAND of Sado—
morning and evening I often see it in my dreams,
Together with the gentle face of my mother.

I SEEM to hear your voice in the
song of the hototogisu.
In the mountains, another day passes.

ONCE AGAIN, many greedy people appear
No different from silkworms wrapped in cocoons.
Wealth and riches are all they love,
Never giving their minds or bodies a moment’s rest.
Every year their natures deteriorate
While their vanity increases.
One morning death comes before
They can use even half their money.
Others happily receive the estate,
And the deceased’s name is soon lost in darkness.
For such people-