Ten Thousand Attainments –
Cannot match One Awakening²
When the Purified and Pondering
Mind is absorbed in Buddha, the Joy
Of the Heart can’t be stated in words³
I possess the True Dharma Eye – the
Marvelous Mind of Nirvana – the True
Form of the Formless: the Subtle Dharma
Gate that does not rest on Words or Letters⁴
Trouble Loses me – Worry Leaves me behind
And I stand up proudly in True Peace of Mind⁵
The Clouds above Join & Separate, the Breeze
In the courtyard Leaves & Returns – Life is like
That, so Relax: who can stop us from Celebrating?⁶
All Utters itself – Blessedness soaks the ground⁷
Insight’s mine: another Dust-Speck in the eye!⁸
Wordless Ecstasy of Mystery: where there’s
No thought but feeling lost in itself forever:
Profound – Remote – Immediate – Calm⁹
This – the Immediate, Everyday, Present
Experience – is It: the Entire & Ultimate
Point for an existence of a Universe¹⁰
¹ Louise Glück, The Red Poppy
² Dogen Zenji tr. Tanahashi & Selkirk, Treasury of the True Dharma Eye
³ Upanishads, quoted by Hermann Hesse in Siddhartha tr. Neugroschel
⁴ Buddha tr. unknown, Flower Sermon
⁵ Carol King, Way Over Yonder
⁶ Lu Yu, quoted by Benjamin Hoff in The Tao of Pooh
⁷ Denise Levertov, The Antiphon
⁸ Kuchu tr. Lucian Stark & Takashi Ikemoto, Joshu’s Word – Nothingness
⁹ Richard Eberhart, The Soul Longs to Return Whence it Came
¹⁰ Alan Watts, This Is It