Zen 96

them.

  35

  Cultivation

  There are many with their handsome salaries

  Who laugh at me because I have low money income.

  This makes me feel extremely vexed and angry,

  But when I go to my mentor, I throw off that feeling

  And return to a better mood -- he has washed,

  Without my knowing it, all the others from me

  By his instructions on what is good within myself.

  I have attended him for so many years now

  To be out of the knowing that I am without revenues.

  There is nothing which Heaven does not cover,

  And nothing which Earth does not support.

  But is it true that seeking for the prestige and name

  Of being an extraordinary and marvellous man

  One doesn't know that he thus handcuffs and fetters

  His own person? Isn't it the point of thought?

  36

  General Sherman

  In a lofty brilliance once it stood,

  Sequoia by the name of Sherman,

  The regal general of all redwoods,

  Which crown once easily touched

  The roof of the heavens. Look at it

  Now but do not pass out -- old age

  Is a trying stage; it's not a surprise.

  The heavenly work has yet to cease

  It has become a shelter for all many

  Living beings, like the visible insects,

  Birds, beasts, vagabonds and those

  Of invisible ghosts, goblins and elves.

  And when at last it falls to the ground

  The life it leaves inspires new outs --

  The saplings spring forth from its stub.

  Truly, Nature runs like a merry-go-round,

  Putting all transformations on a regular rail.

  37

  An Ugly Man's Charm

  There is an ugly man nicknamed the Beast --

  Just like that one from the well-known tale.

  His father-in-law, who lived with him, thought

  So much of him that he could not be away from him.

  His wife, when she first saw him ugly as he was,

  Represented him to her parents, sincerely saying,

  "I had more than ten times rather be his concubine

  Than the wife of any other man in the entire world."

  I've never heard that he takes the lead in discussion,

  But always seems to be of the same opinion with others.

  He has not got a high-ranking post, so as to be able

  To save other men's lives from death. He has no revenue,

  So as to be able to satisfy men's craving for foodstuff.

  Moreover, he is ugly enough to scare the whole community.

  He prefers to agree with men instead of trying

  To let them adopt his views; his knowledge

  Does not go beyond his immediate neighbourhood

  And yet, his father-in-law and his wife

  Are of one mind about him in his presence. As I said,

  He must have been different from other men.

  I have once called him to see him in person.

  Truly, he is ugly enough to scare all children;

  And before he has kept in contact with me

  About a year, I become confidence in him.

  This country, being without its worthy leader,

  The people have become minded to commit

  The government to him. But he has responded

  To the proposal sorrowfully, looking undecided,

  As if he would fain having declined it. It's a shame!

  In a little time after that he has left me and went away.

  And that makes me sorry and I feel that I sustain a loss

  And as if there is no one around to share a pleasure of tie

  I have so much enjoyed. Really, what sort of man is he?

  This ugly man, however, is believed by people,

  Though he does not speak a word; he is loved by all,

  Though he does no special service for anybody.

  He makes men appoint him to the government office

  Afraid only that he would not accept such appointment.

  He must have been a man whose inherent powers

  Are perfect, though realization of them outside,

  In the world is not manifested in his person.

  That our bodies should be nicely looking

  Is sufficient to make us be physically fit.

  But how much greater results should be

  Expected from those whose mental gifts

  Are truly perfect! Not to be sneezed at?

  38

  Man of the Future

  It is that when one's virtue is extraordinary,

  Any defection in the bodily form

  May be forgotten; when men do not forget

  What is easily forgotten but forget

  What is not easily forgotten,

  We face a case of real oblivion.

  Therefore, a man of the future has that

  In which his mind finds its enjoyment;

  He looks on wisdom as but the shoots

  From an old stump; all made agreements

  With others are to him but so much glue;

  All kindness is but the art of intercourse;

  All great skill is but as merchants' wares

  In the marketplace to be sold out.

  The man of the future lays out no plans--

  Of what use would wisdom be to him?

  He has no cutting and hacking to do--

  Of what use would glue be to him?

  He has lost nothing--of what use

  Would the art of intercourse be to him?

  He has no goods to dispose of--

  What need has he to play the part

  Of a skilful merchant of pedlar business?

  The want of these four things

  Are the nourishment of his heavenly properties,

  But the nourishment itself

  Is fully depended on the heavenly victuals.

  Since he receives his foodstuff

  Straight from Heaven, what need has he

  For anything of men's devising?

  He has appearance of man, but not the passions

  And desires of the humans. Where lusts

  And desires are deep, the springs

  Of the heavenly properties are shallow.

  Since he has the bodily form of man,

  He is a man, but being without the passions

  And desires of the humans with all

  Their approvings and disapprovings,

  Certainties and doubts, likings and dislikings

  Are not to be found in him --

  He pursues his course without effort

  And does not try to increase his lifespan.

  He does not dream when he sleeps

  And has no anxiety when he awakes

  And does not care that his food should be pleasant.

  His breathing comes deep and silently;

  It comes even from his heels when he treads.

  Being such, his mind is free from thoughts;

  His demeanour is still and unmoved;

  His forehead beams the light of simplicity.

  Being such, though he may make mistakes,

  He has no occasion for repentance; though

  He may succeed, he has no self-complacency.

  Being such, he can ascend the loftiest heights

  Without fear; he can pass through water

  Without being made wet by it;

  He can go into fire without being burnt.

  So it is that by his knowledge of his heavenly properties,

  More simply, the Mind, he ascends to the stars

  And reaches the realms beyond the Galaxy. . .

  At this, alas, he knows nothing

  Of the love of life or of the hatred of death.

  39

  Forefathers

 
The grand forefathers were truly the men

  Of virtues: whatever coldness

  Came from them was like that of autumn;

  Whatever warmth came from them

  Was like that of late spring.

  Their joy and anger assimilated

  To what we see in the four seasons.

  In regard to things they did what was suitable

  And therefore no one could know how far

  Their action would go. Hence they might,

  In their conduct of war, destroy a country

  Without losing the hearts of its people;

  Their benefits and favours might extend

  To many generations of descendants

  Without their being lovers of men.

  For this reason, he who tries to share

  His pleasure with others is not a clever man;

  He who manifests affection is not benevolent;

  He who observes times and seasons,

  In order to regulate his conduct,

  Is not a man of wisdom; he, to whom profit

  And injury are not the same is not the superior man.

  He who acts for the name of doing so

  And loses his good self is not the right man

  Of what is known as a science;

  He who throws away his person in a way

  Which is not his true course cannot be a leader

  And command the service of others for long.

  40

  Thing-in-Itself

  If you hide away your hut in the ravine of a hill

  And hide then the hill in a lake, you would say

  That the hut is surely secure. But at midnight

  There shall come a strong giant and carry it off

  On his back, broad like a highway, while you

  Remain in the dark, knowing nothing about this.

  You might hide away anything you like,

  Whether small or large, in the most suitable place

  And yet, it will then be vanished from there.

  But if you could hide the world in the world,

  So that there is nowhere to which spare space

  Could be removed, this would be the grand reality

  Of the everlasting something styled 'thing-in-itself.'

  When the body of man comes from its unique

  Earthen mould, there is then occasion for joy,

  But this body undergoes the myriad changes

  And does not reach its perfect state at once --

  Does it not thus afford occasion for endless joy?

  Hence, the sagely man enjoys himself

  In that from which there is no possibility

  Of removal in any way, by which all things

  Are preserved in their proper placements.

  If you consider early death or old age,

  Beginning and ending--all to be good,

  And in this all others would be more

  Than happy to follow you; therefore,

  How much more will they do so in regard

  To that heavenly notion of thing-in-itself,

  On which all beings depend and from which

  Every single transformation in the world arises!

  41

  A Palindrome

  Merry-go-round of life is ordained,

  As we have the constant alternation

  Of day and night, and in both cases

  The heavens play the defining part.

  As for the men, they have no power

  To do anything in reference to both,

  Death and life--such is the causality

  Of all living beings, but why it is so?

  Just because some things are under

  Their control but some of them not.

  Some specially regard the heavens

  As their Lord on High and therefore

  Love them distantly as they really are,

  But how much more should they love

  That one which stands out nearby

  As their direct superior, let's ponder it!

  Some specially regard their supervisors

  As supreme to themselves and will give

  Their lives to die for them--how much more

  Should they do so for that one which

  Is their Lord abided on the Greatly High!

  42

  I Guess

  When the springs are dried up

  Fish cluster together in the mud.

  Than that they should moisten

  One another by the damp about them

  And keep each other wet by their slime,

  It would be better for them to forget

  One another in the rivers and lakes.

  When men praise kindness

  And condemn evil, it would also

  Be better to forget them both

  And seek the renovation in space

  Between Heaven and Earth.

  There is the great mass of nature--

  I find the support of my body on it;

  My lifespan is spent in cultivation

  And constant toil on it; my old age

  Seeks ease on it, but at death

  I find at last rest in it. In the end,

  What makes my life a good now

  Makes my death a good then, I guess.

  43

  Water Drinking Effect

  Water has a taste, but it is a tasteless taste.

  Water can be given to those

  Who have practiced 'za-zen' well,

  But have not yet entered the gate of Zen.

  It can also be given for those who know

  The taste of weak and strong tea that they

  Have already drunk and are attached

  To the flavour. The point is that they have

  Too much thinking and cannot put it down.

  They also cannot put their methods down,

  And are strongly attached to a certain goal--

  A yearning of getting a sudden enlightenment,

  If you want me to call things by their proper names.

  Those who are burdened by their experience

  And intelligence are good to be treated

  With spring water, as simple as it is.

  Hence, a master uses a flavourless method,

  Something like asking a question,

  "A great quantity of rice originates from one

  Single grain. Where this one comes from?"

  And "As is known, ten thousand Dharmas

  Return to one, where does that one return to?"

  These are the methods of what is known

  As 'the water drinking' which are used

  To induce a practitioner of Zen to get rid

  Of all attachments, throwing everything away

  And having the most delicious taste of Purity.

  44

  The Spots of Power

  From ancient times the mountain ranges

  Have been the focus of mysterious imagination

  Of many peoples and their old civilizations.

  With peaks and passes, as the highest scale

  Of the earthly manifestation, they have been

  The only element enabled to touch the skies

  And penetrate in the realm behind the roof

  Of Heaven. They always were considered

  To be a source of inspiration

  For the mythical cultivation.

  Mountains have been invested in all times

  With a dignity unique to their own nature

  And their cult in which a single peak

  Or a whole ridge is an object of worship,

  Has flourished in different regions.

  Even nowadays there are some steady cults

  Of the sacred mountains in the eastern lands,

  Just as there were in pagan countries

  Of the West few centuries ago. And moreover,

  An elaborate mythology of mountains

  Existed across a broad range of ancient cultures

  Is the subject of newly rew
ritten stories today.

  45

  The Tea Ceremony

  The tea ceremony is a magic means:

  Putting it into regular practice,

  You observe the basic principles

  Of Earth and Heaven, Wood, Fire and,

  Certainly, Water. It is as if you're telling

  Your esteemed guest that he or she

  Is about to set off on a trip to a place

  Over the sky line and which is really idyllic:

  Lofty trees, colourful birds, bubbled springs,

  Powerful waterfalls, long running streams

  And beautiful landscapes indeed.

  By servicing with your tea, you thus

  As though tell your guest: 'Go there!

  You have not gotten there yet,

  But you are not far away, dear friend.

  If you just keep on going,

  You will definitely reach your point.'

  This is how the ritual works if, of course,

  If your tea is to your guest's taste.

  46

  Drinking the Spring Water

  Haven't you ever had an experience

  Of drinking the spring water

  Bubbling over in the deep mountains?

  It can be likened to a state when

  There is neither night nor daytime,

  But everything is crystal clear for you

  From within. Basically, we rarely think

  About whether the sun is out or not,

  But it is rare to be clear about such thoughts.

  This clarity means the term of brightness

  Where such things all exist, but

  There is no distinction between them

  And our mind's function:

  So much subjectively, they no longer exist

  Beyond our situational awareness.

  While drinking the spring water,

  There is still the mind. Normally,

  Drinking the well or tap water,

  There's No-mind while the spring water,

  Due to the spiral growing

  Of our environmental consciousness,

  Can compel us to attain the goal

  Of the so-called "No-minded Mind."

  47

  On the Cliff

  For a long time now I have my abode

  On the rocky cliff washed by the blue sea

  And deep ocean. Tarrying here, altogether,

  I've passed thru a number of autumns

  And springs. All alone I chant aloud

  My poems and sing my improvising songs--

  Perfectly fluent, I have no care at all.

  My cave's thatched door is never closed--

  It is always wide open and therefore

  Makes no squeak; the spring bubbles out

  Its delicious drink; it is left for ever

  To take its own streaming downhill.

  A stone-cold recess, into the shallow pit

  I put my cinnabar kettle--utterly gurgling,

  It is overflowing with my pine wine--

  Evening tea made from the cypress needles

  And cedar nuts incensed in my only bowl,

  The size of which is large as a pond. . .

  When I starve for food, I have one grain

  Of aghada-herb -- my time-proved remedy

  From hunger; and very soon, my mind

  Returns to its congruous state I've used to be in.

  While sitting stiff, I lean at my ease

  Against a warmish boulder and accumulate

  My energy for another day to be; although

  Weather-beaten outside I am but warm within.

  48

  The Bodily Mystery

  Who can suppose the head

  To be made from empty space,

  But the spine from vital instincts

  And the edgebone from fear of death?

  Who knows how death and birth,

  Living on and disappearing,

  Compose the one bodily mystery? . .

  I would be friends with him.

  If my spine were to be transformed

  Into a wheel axis and my spirit into a pair

  Of fire steeds, I should then be mounting it

  And would not change it for another light chariot.

  49

  The Puppet World

  When we have got what we are to do,

  There is the time of life in which to do it;

  When we lose that at death -- resignation

  And submission to the divine Heaven's will

  Are what is required for a due reincarnation.

  When one rests in what the time requires

  And manifests the submission

  And resignation, neither joy nor sorrow

  Can find their entrance to the mind

  Of the degenerative being. That would be

  What the ancients called 'loosing

  But not to lose the cords by which

  The life is still suspended.'

  While hanging up, one cannot lose oneself--

  One is held fast by one's bonds. And that

  A human being cannot evade the inevitable

  And overcome the divine will of Heaven

  Is a time-proved and long-acknowledged fact!

  50

  The Small Man of Great Heaven

  Fishes breed and grow in the waters;

  Man develops in the way termed 'fortune.'

  Growing in water, the fish clean

  The still water of ponds and lakes, and thus

  Their nourishment is supplied to them.

  Developing in the way of their fortune,

  Men do nothing, and thus the enjoyment

  Of their idle lives is secured.

  Therefore it is said, "Fishes forget one another

  In the ponds and lakes; men forget one another

  In the art of imitating their personal fates."

  What about the man who stands aloof from others?

  Though he stands aloof from other men,

  He lives in concert with the will of Heaven.

  Hence it is also said, "The small man of Heaven

  Is the superior man among men; the superior man

  Among men is the small man of Heaven. . ."

  This is the reason why the same capital S

  Is pinned on his broad chest. There ought

  To be something in that!

  51

  Transfiguration

  When man is about to undergo his change,

  How does he know that it has not happened?

  When he is not about to undergo his change,

  How does he know that it has taken place?

  Talking about all of us, are we in a dream

  From which we have not begun to awake?

  We sometimes dream that we are a bird

  And seem to be soaring to the heavens

  Or that we are a fish and seem to be diving

  In the sea depths. But we do not know

  Whether we that are now speaking

  Are awake or in a dream, a lifelong dream.

  When others lament their bitter lot

  We also bemoans, having in ourselves

  The reason why we do so. And we all

  Have our personality, which makes us

  What we are as compared together,

  But how do we know that we define

  In every case correctly that

  What is called Personality?

  Life is not the entirely running meeting

  With what is pleasurable that produces a smile;

  It is not the smile suddenly produced

  That makes the arrangement of our personality.

  For this reason, when one rests

  In what has been arranged and puts away

  All thought of the transfiguration,

  He is in unity with the divine will of Heaven.

  52

  In the Field of Good Management

  Is it true that a manager who give
s forth

  His orders in accord to his own views

  And enacts his righteous measures

  Anticipates that no one would venture

  Not to obey them, but all become

  Implemented completely? . .

  That's but the hypocrisy of management,

  Not really a good management indeed.

  When a mature manager runs affairs,

  Does he manage men's outward acts?

  He is himself correct and so

  His management goes on;

  This is the simple and certain way

  By which he secures a success

  Of his activities, and that's the secret.

  Just think of a bird which flies high

  To avoid being hurt by a shot

  Of a crack shooter's gun. Take a look

  At a little mouse which burrows

  A whole system of holes deep

  Under the mulberry field

  To avoid the danger of being smoked

  Or dug out. Are good managers

  Less knowing than these little creatures?

  This is the mostly doubtful thing

  I have ever picked up in my life.

  53

  The Governor

  Happening once to meet with the governor

  Of one cold state, whose name, by the way,

  Has not been revealed to me, I questioned,

  "I beg to ask you what should be done, sir,

  To carry on the appropriate government?"

  The nameless governor replied, "Go away,

  You are a rude company! How come that

  You put a question for which you are

  Unprepared yourself? Do I seem to you

  As the Maker of all things in the universe?"

  I however asked him again: "What method

  Do you have for the proper government

  That could thus agitate my mind?" And

  The nameless governor retorted at last,

  "Allow all things to take their natural course;

  Admit no personal or selfish consideration --

  Do this and all the rest will be well governed

  Without your deep participation in affairs.

  Otherwise, for the right ordering of the state,

  It would be like trying to wade thru the sea

  Or dig thru the North Pole to Tasmania or,

  Using a gnat for carrying Everest on its nape."

  54

  A Willing Horse

  Here is a young man, alert

  And vigorous in responding

  To all current affairs;

  Clear-sighted and widely erudite

  He is unwearied student indeed

  Of the MBA's faculty.

  Can he be compared

  To a truly intelligent manager?

  This young man is truly to one

  Of the well-trained managers,

  But as the bustling underling

  Of an established enterprise,

  He is forced to toil his body

  And daily distress his mind

  With his various contrivances

  And tricks of the trade which,

  Thanks heavens, are in many

  He resorts to in order to remain

  In staying afloat now and then.

  55

  Benevolence

  A ligament uniting the foot's big toe

  With the other toes and an extra finger

  May be considered as natural growths,

  But they are more than is good for use.

  It is that the addition to the foot is but

  The attachment to it of so much useless flesh

  And the addition to the hand is but

  The planting on it of a useless outgrowth.

  When another toe is united to the big toe,

  To divide the membrane makes man weep;

  And when there is an extra finger,

  To gnaw it off makes one cry out indeed.

  In the one case, there is a member too many,

  And in the other a member too few, but the pain

  And anxiety which they cause is the same;

  Hence the Buddha's findings to warn off.

  The benevolent men of the present age

  Look at the evils of the world

  As with eyes full of dust, being filled up

  With sorrow by them, while all those

  Who are not benevolent,

  Having violently altered the character

  Of their proper nature, greedily pursue

  After riches and respects.

  The presumption therefore

  Is simply univocal -- benevolence

  Is contrary to the primal nature of man;

  How full of trouble and contention

  Has the world been ever since Heaven

  And Earth were born in the throes

  Of primordial indivisibility!

  56

  The Campaign Trail

  An extraordinary faculty leads

  To the piling up of arguments,

  Like a builder with his bricks

  Or a net-maker with his lines.

  Its possessor cunningly contrives

  One's sentences and enjoys oneself

  In discussing what blackness is and

  What whiteness actually is,

  Where views agree and where

  They differ and, pressing on,

  Though extremely weary,

  With short steps and with a multitude

  Of useless words to make good

  One's dominant opinion;

  Nor will one stop till one becomes

  A forcible speaker.

  But in all this race the candidates

  Of their opposing but essentially

  The same parties, with their same

  Redundant views and divergent methods,

  Do not proceed by that which is the path

  For all under the blue heavens.

  That which is the perfectly correct path

  Is not to lose the real character

  Of the nature with which they are

  Endowed to expose themselves.

  Thus excessive persistence

  Eagerly brings out rating and restrains

  Its proper nature that its possessor

  May acquire a famous reputation

  And cause all the trumpets and drums

  Possibly available in the world

  To celebrate an unattainable condition.

  And one will not stop, like a bird of prey,

  Till one has become the president oneself.

  57

  A State of Harmony

  To maintain a proper harmony

  The union of parts

  Must not be considered redundance,

  Nor their divergence superfluity;

  What is long

  Must not be considered too long,

  Nor what is short too short.

  A duck's legs, for instance, are short,

  But if we try to lengthen them,

  It occasions pain;

  And a crane's legs are long,

  But if we try to cut off a portion,

  It produces sorrow.

  Where a part is by nature long,

  We are not to amputate

  Or where it is by nature short,

  We are not to lengthen it.

  There is no occasion to try to remove

  Any trouble that it may cause.

  The presumption is that

  A harmonious state

  Is not constituents of humanity;

  For to how much anxiety

  Does the exercise of it give rise!

  58

  The Close Terms

  In employing the tools like vice and line,

  The compass and square, to give things

  Their proper shapes we have to cut away

  Some portions of what naturally belongs

  To them. In using strings and fastenings,

  Glue
and varnish to make things durable

  We have to interfere with their primaries.

  Clampdowns and suppressions in rites

  And music, the factitious expression

  In the countenance of merits and virtues

  In order to comfort the minds of men --

  These all show a failure in observing

  The regular principles of the human self.

  Yes, all humans are furnished

  With such regular principles;

  According to them what is clamped

  Down is not made so by the vice,

  Nor what is straight by the line,

  Nor what is round by the compass,

  Nor what is square by the setsquare;

  Nor is adhesion effected by the use

  Of glue and varnish, nor are things

  Bound together by means of strings.

  It is that all things are produced

  What they are by a certain guidance

  While they do not know till the end

  How they are produced so to be.

  And they equally attain their several ends,

  While they don't know how it is that they do so.

  Anciently it was so, and it is so today.

  And this constitution of all things and matters

  Should not be made of none effect. It is so,

  But very few knows how to do this properly,

  In other word 'effortlessly' -- the close term

  Of what is known as 'the naturalness.'

  59

  Timeserving

  From the very commencement of the world

  Nowhere has there been a man who has not

  Under the influence of external conditions

  Altered the course of his inherent features.

  I will therefore try and put the matter strictly.

  The petty men for the sake of gain

  Are ready to sacrifice their souls;

  Wise