Zen Poems
Eihei Dogen Kigen Translations by Michael R. Burch
by Michael R. Burch
Eihei Dogen Kigen Translations
These are my modern English translations of Eihei Dogen Kigen, a master of the Japanese waka poetic form. Eihei Dogen Kigen (1200-1253), also called Dogen Zenji, was born in Kyoto, Japan. He was a Japanese Buddhist monk and a prolific poet, writer and philosopher. He was also the founder of the Soto Zen sect (or Sotoshu) and the Eiheiji monastery in early Kamakura-era Japan. In addition to writing Japanese waka, Dogen Kigen was well-versed in Chinese poetry, which he learned to read at age four.
This world?
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane’s bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Seventy-one?
......
A Zen Moment
by Peter Dr Lim
This is a pure Zen moment:
the emptiness is the fullness
the nothingness is the ripeness
and the letting go
is the best way to know
21st Century Zen
by Peter Dr Lim
This is a sure way
of being happy:
laugh at yourself
be a nobody
A flake in isolation (05/03/2019)
by Hendrico Valentijn
Dwindling through the air.
I am not convinced it's fair.
From whence comes this cold icy wind?
Ignorance; frigidly frozen.
In aftermath, my vision I'll rescind.
The glassy path I haven't chosen.
The past winter my friend.
In the avalanche I stand.
......
From my book on Zen
by Peter Dr Lim
When everything is nothing
and nothing is everything
that's the moment of truth.
I share the joy and laughter of happy faces,
but sad ones linger for a long time in my mind.
There's a latent candle in every heart
that awaits to be lighted.
......
Eihei Dogen Kigen Translations by Michael R. Burch
by Michael R. Burch
Eihei Dogen Kigen Translations
These are my modern English translations of Eihei Dogen Kigen, a master of the Japanese waka poetic form. Eihei Dogen Kigen (1200-1253), also called Dogen Zenji, was born in Kyoto, Japan. He was a Japanese Buddhist monk and a prolific poet, writer and philosopher. He was also the founder of the Soto Zen sect (or Sotoshu) and the Eiheiji monastery in early Kamakura-era Japan. In addition to writing Japanese waka, Dogen Kigen was well-versed in Chinese poetry, which he learned to read at age four.
This world?
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane’s bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Seventy-one?
......
Someday (Zen)
by Peter Dr Lim
Some Day (Zen)
Some day we shouldn’t be speaking
to learn the meaning of silence, to free
ourselves of insipid uttering
words to avoid- our infested mind to vacate
to cease thinking and be totally empty
there's time left still, it will not be too late-
a new life we’ll begin to celebrate
......
21st Century Zen
by Peter Dr Lim
This is a sure way
of being happy:
laugh at yourself
be a nobody
A Zen Moment
by Peter Dr Lim
This is a pure Zen moment:
the emptiness is the fullness
the nothingness is the ripeness
and the letting go
is the best way to know
From my book on Zen
by Peter Dr Lim
When everything is nothing
and nothing is everything
that's the moment of truth.
I share the joy and laughter of happy faces,
but sad ones linger for a long time in my mind.
There's a latent candle in every heart
that awaits to be lighted.
......
