Muso Soseki: Hui-neng's Pond

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Search the Poetry Chaikhana site:

<<Previous Poem | View All Poems by Muso Soseki | Next Poem >>

Hui-neng's Pond

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

The Dharma spring of the Sixth Patriarch
     has never run dry
          it is flowing even now
a single drop
     has fallen and spread
          far and deep
Don't be caught
     by the decorations at the edge
          and the wall around it
In the dead of night
     the moonlight strikes
          the middle of the pond

-- from Sun at Midnight: Muso Soseki - Poems and Sermons, Translated by W. S. Merwin / Translated by Soiku Shigematsu

Amazon.com

Themes

Death

Moon

Night

Spring Blossom

Water

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

<<Previous Poem | More Poems by Muso Soseki | Next Poem >>

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!

Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World