Ryōkan Taigu

The days and months move on And now as the year draws to a close Heaven sends down a chastening frost Across a thousand hills Trees stand bare

On myriad paths, scarcely a traveller.

I burn dry leaves.

The long night passes.

Broken now and then by the sound of wind and rain.

As I think back, everything gone by is just a picture in a dream.

At the end of the year, the whole world reels with the hustle and bustle of delivering gifts.

Only my thatch hut remains peaceful and calm.

What kind of thanks can I offer the Buddha?

One stick of incense.

We sit face to face and you don't say a word.

Yet your silence reveals the timeless essence of things.

Open books lie strewn about the floor.

And just beyond the bamboo shade, a gentle rain soaks the flowering plum.

A thousand peaks locked in freezing clouds

Each day I sit in meditation, now and then hearing the snow softly drift against my window.

...

I want to ask you, in this whole world, what is the most profound, most wonderful thing

Sit erect and meditate right to the end.

As you meditate, you'll find a clue