Here are some poems by the Zen master Ryokan, one of my favorites:
How can we ever lose interest inlife?
Spring has come again
And cherry trees bloom in the mountains.
****
I came to this village to see the peach blossoms
but spent the day instead
Looking at the flowers along the river bank.
*****
O that my priest's robe were wide enough
to gather up all the suffering people
in this floating world.
****
Finshing a day of begging
I return home through the green mountains.
The setting sun is hidden behind the western cliffs
And the moon shines weakly on the streams below.
I stop by a rock and wash my feet.
Lighting some incense, I sit peacefully in zazen,
Again, a one-man brotherhood of monks. . . .
When I read his poems, I want to go live in a hermitage.
Please share some of your favorite poems with me.
