Incomparable Verse Valley

by Muso Soseki

English version by W. S. Merwin
Original Language Japanese

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

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Recommended Books: Muso Soseki

Sun at Midnight: Muso Soseki - Poems and Sermons East Window: Poems from Asia Roaring Stream: A New Zen Reader



Incomparable Verse Valley