Poetry Chaikhana Blog

as flowing waters disappear into the mist
by Shih Shu

English version by James H. Sanford

as flowing waters disappear into the mist
we lose all track of their passage.
every heart is its own Buddha;
to become a saint, do nothing.

enlightenment: the world is a mote of dust,
you can look right through heaven’s round mirror
slip past all form, all shape
and sit side by side with nothing, save Tao.

— from A Drifting Boat: Chinese Zen Poetry, Edited by J. P. Seaton / Edited by Dennis Maloney

/ Image by Ivana Cajina /

Just reading these words tensions cease, the mind settles, and the glow of deep truth naturally shines forth.

I especially like these lines:

every heart is its own Buddha;
to become a saint, do nothing.

What we look for when we seek the Buddha, or enlightenment, or the Truth, is already seated within our own hearts. The way to enlightenment is not to do more — make new journeys, comprehend new teachings, perfect new practices, think more profound thoughts. Those can be important aids, yes, but the real goal is always to discover what is already in the heart. When the seat of the Buddha has not been discovered, it is because we are still distracting ourselves with too much doing.

This is not what we’re taught as we try to find a place in the world. We are always pressed to Do. Do more. Do brilliantly. Do efficiently. Do.

But try it sometime: Do less. Do nothing. Try to understand what doing nothing means. It is not about being inactive or unproductive. Truly doing nothing becomes internal, when not only thoughts are quiet, but the selfish will no longer exerts itself, when the subtle energies from which the mind arises have settled. You won’t believe the immense sense of relief you’ll then feel! Like a cramped muscle relaxing for the first time in years.

Don’t do more. Don’t do at all. Do nothing. Embrace nothing. Come to rest in that wide open plain. Sit side by side with it. See what it reveals.

slip past all form, all shape
and sit side by side with nothing, save Tao.

Recommended Books: Shih Shu

A Drifting Boat: Chinese Zen Poetry	Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry	The Clouds Should Know Me By Now: Buddhist Poet Monks of China

“Shih-shu” is a term that can be translated as “rock and bark poetry” — nature poetry that often poked fun at the bustle of city life and city mind. Rather than brushed onto fine paper, shih-shu poems were scratched into pieces of bark, bamboo, or rocks.

In the early 1700s, one poet took the widely used term as a nom de plume, making it difficult to know much about the author… other than through the poems themselves.

More poetry by Shih Shu

Trackback URI | Comments RSS