The years that lie behind you, with all their struggles and pains, will in time be remembered only as the way that led to your new life.

Henri J. M. Nouwen 

 

Dawn from Placitas Open Space

 

I love the joys of the moutains
wandering completely free
feeding a crippled body another day
thinking thoughts that go nowhere
sometime I open an old sutra
more often I climb a stone tower
and peer down a thousand foot cliff
or up where clouds curl around
where the windblown winter moon
looks like a lone-flying crane.

COLD MOUNTAIN
From
The Collected Song of Cold Mountain 

 

 Till  now
I thought that only 
others die -
that such happiness
should fall to me!

Ryou
Japanese Death Poems 

 

Everyone is so afraid of death,  
but the real sufis just laugh:
nothing tyrannizes their hearts.
What strikes the oyster shell doesn't damage the pearl.

Rumi 

 

 

 

the moon a sign

this way, sir, to enter

a traveler's inn

 

Matsuo Basho 

Full Sturgeon Moon setting this morning

 

 

 

 

  As for me, I delight in the everyday Way,

Among mist-wrapped vines and rocky caves. 

Here in the wilderness I am completely free, 

With my friends, the white clouds, idling forever.

There are roads, but they do not reach the world;

Since I am mindless, who can rouse my thoughts?

On a bed of stone I sit, alone in the night, 

While the round moon climbs up Cold Mountain.

 

Hanshan

from

Zen Poems 

 

 

 

 

 

..Stillness: One of the doors

into the temple. 

 

Mary Oliver 

 

At dawn I come to the convent old,

While the rising sun tips its tall trees with gold-

Chang Jian

Rising sun filtered through smoke from the earth on fire

 

I smile like a flower not only with my lips

but with my whole being...

Rumi

 

...Cranes in the wilderness, lonely clouds - their

destination is uncertain:

Where in the world am I to address my deepest

thoughts?...

Betsugen Enshi

from

Zen Poems

July's Buck Moon setting over Albuquerque 

 

 

The mountain I live on

nobody knows

inside the clouds 

it's always deserted

Cold Mountain

from 

The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain

Unkindness from the wise

is better than the kindness of the ignorant

The Prophet said, "Enmity from wisdom

is better than love which comes from a fool."

Rumi

 

...When the treadmill of life and death stop

each rebirth gets more confusing

until we discover the jewel of our mind

we're like blind mules following our feet...

Cold Mountain

from 

The Collected songs of Cold Mountain

 

 

For an image of life and death

consider ice and water

water freezes into ice

ice melts back into water

what dies must live again

what lives is bound to die

ice and water don't harm each other

both life and death are fine

Cold Mountain

from 

The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain

Today's morning mountain walk. Life and death.

Why am I so troubled 

life is a one-day mushroom

what good is another decade

with friends and family gone

thinking of this makes me sad

and sadness I can't bear

what then do I do

entrust myself to the hills for good

Cold Mountain

from

 The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain

Scenes from my garden

 

 

the people I see in the world

walk dazed in the dust of the road

they don't know where they are

or how to find the ford

their bloom lasts how many days

their loved ones aren't close long

even if I had a ton of gold

I'd rather be poor in the woods

Cold Mountain

from

The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain