I live alone by folded cliffs
where churning mists even at midday do not part.
Though it is dark here in the room,
my mind is clear and free of clamor.
In dreams I roam past golden portals;
my spirit returns across the stone bridge.
I have thrust aside everything that vexes me –
Clatter! Clatter! Goes the dipper in the tree.*
*someone feeling sorry
for the hermit Hsu Yu because he had to drink water from his hands, gave him a
gourd dipper. But after using it once, Hsu Yu hung it in a tree and went off, leaving
it to clatter in the wind
Cold Mountain, 100 poems by the T’ang poet Han Shan,
translated by Burton Watson, no. 42, p. 60
more on Han Shan click here
My Comment:
I am strongly attracted to the Han Shan poems that transport me to a place of simplicity and oneness with myself and nature. In this one, additionally, the words “I have thrust aside everything that vexes me – ” resonates with the “cat and the newlyweds” story that I included in my last post on my WordPress blog:
which stands for the determination and also the necessary clarity to put away any thoughts, feelings, or emotions that tend to distract me from that place of simplicity and oneness with myself and nature. In the last few days, since reading these lines, this I have thrust aside everything that vexes me has become sort of a mantra reminding me and triggering me to stay centered in non-duality and in the uniqueness of this moment, of my life.
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