by Shitou Xiqian
I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value.
After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap.
When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared.
Now it's been lived in - covered by weeds.
The person in the hut lives here calmly,
Not stuck to inside, outside, or in between.
Places worldly people live, he doesn't live.
Realms worldly people love, he doesn't love.
Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world.
In ten square feet, an old man illumines forms and their nature.
A Great Vehicle bodhisattva trusts without doubt.
The middling or lowly can't help wondering;
Will this hut perish or not?
Perishable or not, the original master is present,
not dwelling south or north, east or west.
Firmly based on steadiness, it can't be surpassed.
A shining window below the green pines --
Jade palaces or vermilion towers can't compare with it.
Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest.
Thus, this mountain monk doesn't understand at all.
Living here he no longer works to get free.
Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests?
Turn around the light to shine within, then just return.
The vast inconceivable source can't be faced or turned away from.
Meet the ancestral teachers, be familiar with their instruction,
Bind grasses to build a hut, and don't give up.
Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely.
Open your hands and walk, innocent.
Thousands of words, myriad interpretations,
Are only to free you from obstructions.
If you want to know the undying person in the hut,
Don't separate from this skin bag here and now.
Thoughts: Every day I work to get free. I feel the stress upon my body, the task upon my mind. It boils up and spills over. And all the while, I dream of a day when I can one day have this sort of place. A small hut, a hermitage, in an out of the way place where I can live a simple life. This, my oldest dream, is so far out of reach because of all of the desires I have that I think will get me there.
Why do I think that Zen will help me have a simple life? Because I read poems and songs by these students and masters and I want to know how I can realize the nature of things.
Questions: Why are you here? Why do you study Zen?
Submitted June 29, 2017 at 05:44AM by Archaeoculus http://ift.tt/2s3M4rK
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