Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Search the Poetry Chaikhana site:


Poetry Chaikhana Home
New | Books | Music | Teahouse | About | Contact
Poets by: Name| Tradition | Timeline Poetry by: Theme | Commentary
Blog | Forum | Video Channel
www.Poetry-Chaikhana.com

<<Previous Poem | View All Poems by Hakuin | Next Poem >>

Past, present, future: unattainable

Hakuin, Hakuin poetry, Buddhist, Buddhist poetry, Zen / Chan poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry,  poetry by Hakuin
(1686 - 1768) Timeline

English version by
Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto

Original Language
Japanese

Buddhist : Zen / Chan
18th Century

Past, present, future: unattainable,
Yet clear as the moteless sky.
Late at night the stool's cold as iron,
But the moonlit window smells of plum.

 

 

-- from Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter, Translated by Lucien Stryk / Translated by Takashi Ikemoto

Amazon.com

 


/ Photo by Miss Acuarelas /

Themes

  Moon
  Night
  Sky
  Spring Blossom
 


Recommended Books


Essential Teachings of Zen Master Hakuin, by Norman Waddell
Secrets of the Blue Cliff Record: Zen Comments by Hakuin and Tenkei, Translated by Thomas Cleary
Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, Translated by Norman Waddell
The Zen Koan, by Isshu Miura / Ruth Fuller Sasaki
Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter, Translated by Lucien Stryk / Translated by Takashi Ikemoto

 

<<Previous Poem | More Poems by Hakuin | Next Poem >>

Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This poem by Hakuin is saying a great deal about the sacred state in its few lines.

Hakuin states that past, present, and future are "unattainable." That is, they cannot be grasped. They are always in motion. People instinctively want to reside in a fixed place within time, but Hakuin is reminding us that that is an impossibility; one can only acknowledge the ceaseless flow of experience without clinging.

This realization leads to a still mind. Sky is often a metaphor for the awareness, that which overarches and reveals all things to perception. When the awareness is "moteless," no thoughts obstuct the mind, making it clear.

The moon is often a codeword in Buddhist poetry for the individual mind attaining enlightened awareness. And plum, cherry, and other spring blossoms can represent the delicate, natural flowering or awakening of Buddha mind in early spring after the long winter of spiritual practice. So when Hakuin speaks of how "the moonlit window smells of plum," it can be understood as Hakuin poetically telling us how this glimpse of pure insight resulting from a deeply still mind holds the delightful promise of Nirvana.

 

 


Poetry Chaikhana Home
New | Books | Music | Teahouse | About | Contact
Poets by: Name| Tradition | Timeline Poetry by: Theme | Commentary
Blog | Facebook | Twitter
www.Poetry-Chaikhana.com

Please support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you!

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.