Hey everybody I think this post round I would do a poem, and I figured a nice Zen poem was due, after all not all of ancient Chinese writings for me necessarily need to be ancient Chinese stories to be enjoyable.. Now I already had a Zen poem (aka Chan Buddhism) but I found one written by a woman and it’s always pleasing to read ancient poetry of any sort from anyone. I figured though since I really never mentioned a woman from ancient China (and there a quite a few famous ones from ancient Chinese times as well as modern ) in any of my stories, so this one I post up from the book “The Poetry of Zen,” by Sam Hammill and J.P. Seaton. We do not know who this woman was but all we know was that she was a Zen monk in the Song Dynasty which really (at least from what I have researcged) was the last time Chan or Zen Buddhism really had strong influence in China.

—-

Searching for spring all day, I never saw it,

straw sandals treading everywhere

among the clouds, among the bank.

Coming home, I laughed, catching

the plum blossom’s scent:

spring at each branch tip, already perfect.

—

Now the Song dynasty is not so ancient but was still of significance because it still was a full dynasty which followed the Tang after the time of the five dynasties which was about 60 years sometime in the 10th century. Chinese Buddhism had significantly declined after the Tang because the Tang had blamed the Buddhists for their difficulties. As a result, Song China made a return to Confucianism and made Neo-Confucian ideas. However, Zen in it’s time and even now in other areas of the world greatly affected poetry and aesthetic writing in general.

I am uncertain if I should try to interpret this particular poem, but it seems to be very similar to searching for enlightenment. If you try to look for it, you will not find it. It will come suddenly without you even knowing it. This nun realistically came from the school of sudden enlightenment.

I put up this photo simply because Zen is a form of Mahayana here I am next to one of the most famous of Mahayana Bodhisattvas (none exist in Theravada), the Buddha of wealth and good fortune. Hope everyone enjoyed this Chinese Poem from old China. Next time I will have a more ancient Chinese tale to add to our Chinese story list. Till the next ancient Chinese Tale.