Let the Fortress of Egos,
That huge Barricade, Crumble²
Do not let me Worry overmuch
About the Fussy thing called: “I”³
To study the Way is to study the Self – to
Study the self is to Forget the self – to forget
The self is to be Actualized by Myriad Things⁴
Don’t wonder How, Where, or Whether you are⁵
How this be except by Abdication – Me – of Me?⁶
When you do something, Burn yourself Completely,
Like a good Bonfire, leaving No Trace of yourself⁷
We turn Inward and prove our True-Nature: that
True-Self is No-Self – our own self is No-Self⁸
There is No I or world to Know –
There is something Not Known⁹
Where I becomes Impossible –
The Problem is No Longer¹⁰
¹ Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen
² Vahan Tekeyan tr. Hovanessian & Margossian, Prayer on the Threshold
³ Anonymous, Prayer Found in Chester Cathedral
⁴ Dogen tr. Robert Aitken and Kazuaki Tanahashi, Genjo-Koan
⁵ Philip Whalen, Life & Death and a Letter to My Mother Beyond Them Both
⁶ Emily Dickinson, Me from Myself
⁷ Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
⁸ Hakuin Ekaku tr. Rochester Zen Center, Chant in Praise of Zazen
⁹ William Bronk, The Late Agnostic
¹⁰ Katharine Coles, Imaginary Numbers