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This rare and heavenly creature by Han-shan (Cold Mountain) (730? - 850?) Timeline English version by Red Pine Original Language Chinese Buddhist : Zen / Chan Taoist 8th Century This rare and heavenly creature alone without peer look and it's not there it comes and goes but not through doors it fits inside a square-inch it spreads in all directions unless you acknowledge it you'll meet but never know     -- from The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain, Translated by Red Pine Amazon.com   / Photo by Prince Roy /	Recommended Books The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain, Translated by Red Pine A Drifting Boat: Chinese Zen Poetry, Edited by J. P. Seaton / Edited by Dennis Maloney The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell The Poetry of Zen: (Shambhala Library), Edited by Sam Hamill / Edited by J. P. Seaton Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems, by Gary Snyder More >>
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

I really like this verse by the great Taoist/Buddhist poet and prankster Han Shan. It is almost a riddle, a challenge to figure out what this "rare and heavenly creature" is. But the only way to solve the riddle is not through the thought process, but through the awakening process...

It is "alone without peer." It is One, whole, complete, and solitary without any "other."

"Look and it's not there." The normal act of looking requires an observer to be separate from the observed. Looking in that sense requires duality, fragmentation, and separation. In that separation, the One is lost and this "it" is lost.

"It fits inside a square-inch / it spreads in all directions." This is an acknowledgment of the holistic nature of this deep reality. It is found in the heart, in every creature, every cell, every atom -- in the tiniest of containers. Yet this "it" is everywhere, and it is not a different "it" anywhere else. It is both specific and, at the same time, all inclusive.

"Unless you acknowledge it / you'll meet but never know." This is my favorite line. When the awareness truly opens to this eternal reality, it is profoundly... familiar! There is the shocking realization that you have always known it and felt it. The quest isn't to find or "meet" this "heavenly creature," it is to finally recognize or "acknowledge" it -- already present.

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.