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Buddha's Satori

Muso Soseki, Muso Soseki poetry, Buddhist, Buddhist poetry, Zen / Chan poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry,  poetry by Muso Soseki
(1275 - 1351) Timeline

English version by
W. S. Merwin

Original Language
Japanese

Buddhist : Zen / Chan
14th Century

For six years sitting alone
     still as a snake
          in a stalk of bamboo
with no family
     but the ice
          on the snow mountain
Last night
     seeing the empty sky
          fly into pieces
he shook
     the morning star awake
          and kept it in his eyes

 

 

-- from East Window: Poems from Asia, Translated by W. S. Merwin

Amazon.com

 

Themes

  Dawn
  Mountain
  Night
  Sky
  Snake


Recommended Books


East Window: Poems from Asia, Translated by W. S. Merwin
Roaring Stream: A New Zen Reader, Edited by Nelson Foster / Edited by Josh Shoemaker
Sun at Midnight: Muso Soseki - Poems and Sermons, Translated by W. S. Merwin / Translated by Soiku Shigematsu

 

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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2009 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.