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Incomparable Verse Valley

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 sounds of the stream
     splash out
          the Buddha's sermon
Don't say
     that the deepest meaning
          comes only from one's mouth
Day and night
     eighty thousand poems
          arise one after the other
and in fact
     not a single word
          has ever been spoken

 

 

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

Amazon.com

 


/ Photo by s.thornton /

Themes

  Awakening
  Night
  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

 

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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.