Looking for a place to settle
Cold Mountain will do just fine
Fine wind among thick pines
The closer you listen
The better the sound
Under them a man
His hair turning white
Mumbling, mumbling
Taoist texts
He’s been here ten years
Unable to return
Completely forgotten the way
By which he came.
~ Han-shan
Chapter 22
Bent follows whole, crooked follows straight,
Hollow follows filled, worn-out follows new.
Little follows satisfaction, much follows bewilderment.
The wise person uses this to hold the One, and models all under heaven.
He does not see his self for he is honest; he does not exist for he is clear;
He does not attack himself for he has merit; he is not self important for he endures;
He alone does not contend, for nothing under heaven is able to contend with him.
This is the ancient point of view: bent follows whole.
How can it be that emptiness speaks! Complete sincerity returns.
https://www.centertao.org/essays/tao-te-ching/carl/chapter-22/
Ode 44
Last night, as half asleep I dreaming lay,
Half naked came she in her little shift,
With tilted glass, and verses on her lips;
Narcissus-eyes all shining for the fray,
Filled full of frolic to her wine-red lips,
Warm as a dewy rose, sudden she slips
Into my bed – just in her little shift.
Said she, half naked, half asleep, half heard,
With a soft sigh betwixt each lazy word,
‘Oh my old lover, do you sleep or wake!’
And instant I sat upright for her sake,
And drank whatever wine she poured for me –
Wine of the tavern, or vintage it might be
Of Heaven’s own vine: he surely were a churl
Who refused wine poured out by such a girl,
A double traitor he to wine and love.
Go to, thou puritan! the gods above
Ordained this wine for us, but not for thee;
Drunkards we are by a divine decree,
Yea, by the special privilege of heaven
Foredoomed to drink and foreordained forgiven.
Ah! HAFIZ, you are not the only man
Who promised penitence and broke down after;
For who can keep so hard a promise, man,
With wine and woman brimming o’er with laughter!
O knotted locks, filled like a flower with scent,
How have you ravished this poor penitent!
Hafez
There’s a master who feeds on rosy clouds
He lives concealed from common wanderers
No matter what the season, it’s really restful
The summer is very much like the fall
Hidden streams are always gurgling
The wind murmurs in tall pines
Sit here for half a day
And you’ll completely
Forget a hundred year’s woes.
~ Han-shan
In my house there is a cave
In the cave there’s nothing at all
Pure emptiness
Really wonderful
Glorious and splendid
Bright as the sun
Vegetarian fare nourishes this old body
Cotton and hides cover this illusory form
Let a thousand saints appear before me
I have the Dharmakaya for my very own
~ Han-shan
To find you, I moved beyond the city,
A wide path led me, by mulberry and hemp,
To a new-set hedge of chrysanthemums
Not yet blooming although autumn had come.
I knocked; no answer, not even a dog.
I waited to ask your western neighbor;
But he told me that daily you climb the mountain,
Never returning till sunset.
~ Sen Chiao-jan