{"id":6587,"date":"2019-10-25T07:44:44","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T14:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=6587"},"modified":"2019-10-25T12:28:21","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T19:28:21","slug":"shiwu-stonehouse-outside-the-door-i-made-but-dont-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/25\/shiwu-stonehouse-outside-the-door-i-made-but-dont-close\/","title":{"rendered":"Shiwu (Stonehouse) – Outside the door I made but don’t close"},"content":{"rendered":"

Outside the door I made but don\u2019t close
\nby Shiwu (Stonehouse)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Red Pine<\/font><\/p>\n

Outside the door I made but don\u2019t close
\nI glimpse the movements of unfamiliar birds
\na handful of jade is worth a whole mountain
\nbut gold can\u2019t buy a lifetime of freedom
\nthe sound of icy falls on a dawnlit snowy ridge
\nthe sight of distant peaks through leafless autumn woods
\nmist lifts from ancient cedars and days last forever
\nright and wrong don\u2019t get past the clouds<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Zen Works of Stonehouse: Poems and Talks of a 14th Century Chinese Hermit<\/a>, Translated by Red Pine<\/font><\/p>\n


\n\/ Image by Michael Levine-Clark<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

This poem feels to me like a Chinese brush painting, specific details observed suggesting a panoramic landscape, yet when we try to enter the scene it becomes ephemeral and slightly elusive.<\/p>\n

Outside the door I made but don\u2019t close
\nI glimpse the movements of unfamiliar birds<\/i><\/p>\n

That opening line about a door the poet made but does not close, I skimmed past it the first few times I read this poem, but now it grabs my attention. I love the idea of having gone to all the effort of constructing a door and then never using it because you always want it open so you can see and hear the outside world, so no barrier is created between inside and outside.<\/p>\n

a handful of jade is worth a whole mountain
\nbut gold can\u2019t buy a lifetime of freedom<\/i><\/p>\n

Two lines to contemplate and dismiss the dilemmas of wealth. People tend to commodify all of existence, placing a price tag on every experience and thing and even other people. A handful of jade is enough to buy an entire mountain. Who says that\u2019s what a mountain is worth? Or what jade is worth? Exchanging that jade for the pretense of owning that mountain, what do we then have? What has changed for us? Can we breathe easier? Are we more free? The game of money might be worth playing, or not, but it is not the game of freedom.<\/p>\n

the sound of icy falls on a dawnlit snowy ridge
\nthe sight of distant peaks through leafless autumn woods<\/i><\/p>\n

Freedom is found through other mediums of exchange, usually involving stillness, attention, compassion \u2014 and harmony with the living world all around us.<\/p>\n

mist lifts from ancient cedars and days last forever
\nright and wrong don\u2019t get past the clouds<\/i><\/p>\n

Real freedom carries the flavor of timelessness. The world continues in its rhythms, of course, and the serial unfolding of events does not stop, but the rush of time ceases to drive them. It becomes as if one is simply watching the flow of a gentle creek; movement occurs, but it is a serene unfolding within a larger scene of rest.<\/p>\n

When we discover this timeless place, when we find ourselves at peace in the midst of the serene beauty surrounding us, when there is no sense of \u201cI and mine\u201d driving the moment, where then are \u201cright\u201d and \u201cwrong\u201d? Ideas of this and not that cannot approach the open field of what is.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s try to leave those doors we\u2019ve made ajar today. Have a beautiful day!<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Shiwu (Stonehouse)<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Zen Works of Stonehouse: Poems and Talks of a 14th Century Chinese Hermit<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/small><\/td>\n<\/small><\/td>\n<\/small><\/td>\n<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\nShiwu (Stonehouse)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

China (1272 \u2013 1352) Timeline<\/a>
\nBuddhist<\/a> : Zen \/ Chan<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Shiwu, whose name translates as \u201cStonehouse,\u201d was a Chan (Zen) monk, hermit, and poet in China during the Yuan Dynasty.<\/p>\n

Unlike several other Buddhist poets of the era, Shiwu was a formal monk, well-educated in Buddhist dharma, meditation, and monastic tradition. He studied first in Yushan\u2019s Hsingfu Temple, where he received the dharma name Ch\u2019ing-hung.<\/p>\n

He later went to the Tienmu Mountains to study Chan with Kao-Feng. During his time with Kao-feng, he was given the koan \u201cAll things return to one\u201d to contemplate.<\/p>\n

Shiwu then went to Chienyang to study with the master Chi-an. Chi-an dismissed the koan he was studying, and gave him a new one: \u201cWhere Buddhas reside, don\u2019t stop. Where Buddhas don\u2019t reside, rush past.\u201d Frustrated by his new koan for some time, he had a flash of insight one day, and answered his teacher with, \u201cWhen the rain stops at the end of spring, the oriole appears on a branch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shiwu helped his teacher Chi-an in his role as abbot of Taochang temple. Shiwu himself later acted as a meditation teacher for some time at Lingyin Timple.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Shiwu took up the life of a hermit, removing himself to the Zhongnan Mountains. There he composed his 184 Shan-shih or \u201cMountain Poems.\u201d His Mountain Poems are quiet observations of details of his humble mountain life. They are specific, even mundane, yet they hint at the meditator\u2019s still and open awareness. His poems and observations of the life of quiet retirement have long been read by monks, hermits, and meditators.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Shiwu (Stonehouse)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outside the door I made but don\u2019t close by Shiwu (Stonehouse) English version by Red Pine Outside the door I made but don\u2019t close I glimpse the movements of unfamiliar birds a handful of jade is worth a whole mountain but gold can\u2019t buy a lifetime of freedom the sound of icy falls on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[40,637,112,1817,1824,939,1825,1320,118],"class_list":["post-6587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-buddhist-poetry","tag-chan-poetry","tag-chinese-poetry","tag-communion-with-nature","tag-shiwu","tag-stillness","tag-stonehouse","tag-timelessness","tag-zen-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6587"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6589,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6587\/revisions\/6589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}