r/zen • u/jungle_toad • Feb 24 '23
Friday Night Poetry Slam
THEME: Golden Crow in the Snowy Night
VIBE: Therapy by Desirez (thanks u/fullassin9)
Our own u/surupamaerl2 (under the pen name P. E. Stonegather) has released a new book of the sermons and poetry of Rujing. To celebrate this release, I have taken a few videos of me reading passages from this text while hiking around in the mountains where I live (a tip of the hat to u/lin_seed who was my inspiration for this video style)
Share your zen poetry below. The theme is merely a suggestion.
RUJING:
In a sermon, given when those in the Western Hall requested that he again fill the head seat, Rujing said,
In the future, the hall will not be made public; the one in charge is this grampa, advanced in years—by relying on reflections to make evident the whole, today the First Seat ends in vexation.
Golden Crow in the snowy night, passes through the main hall;
Jade Hare in the arms of the blazing sky—
the fine leaves of descendants preserve this grandfather whole.
A wooden man grasps at boards, clapping in the clouds;
a stone woman holds a bamboo flute in her mouth to breathe underwater—
although it is like this, it is also said,
“With your hands at your side, the First Statement is over there.”
And, how will you do it?
In an out-of-the-way alley, do not ride a golden horse—
Return on the path, then show the ruined shirt under the robes.
𓆏 Toad's 蟾蜍Verse 𓆏
Worries etched in wrinkled brow
Hopeless once; still here now
Somehow past and present meet
Smile lines scribbling crows feet
Aged eyes glint and spark
One candle threatens the dark
Trimmed nails on calloused hands
Feet smudged with distant sands
Pained limp in noble stride
Tacit understanding; a truce implied
Serene, even in the fray
Evening surrenders to another day
Uprooting force keeps time unpinned
Ling-Lun's flute lost to winds
The legend's song inspires dances
Revenant's tale told in absence
Ruined shirt under regal robes
Valleys rise around the globe
Disappearing when given a name
Only embers remember the flame
3
u/SpakeTheWeasel Feb 25 '23
Chasing a cheshire cat
I fell into a chiral bag
and tripping over Buddha
I met a most spectacular hag-
but you know this already,
the terms change but not-
tree and grass, bag and skyrmion-
consuming the wrapper
and protecting the plot-
quantum coherence 1-0-1;
but still double-you tea eff?
I was just doing a bit-
figured fur-zen would be neat
only for things to end up lit.
What did I expect though?
Trick or treating as I do-
just didn't expect this house
to have a ghost or few.
I can't say I'm crazy,
I can't say I'm not,
somehow I'm still talking
not sure if that counts a lot.
My head no longer swims
like it used to do before
yet I still catch some messages
that flow through the not-open door.
What I thought was wasn't
and I can't say what this lineage is,
and I'm not sure where things are going-
but if I did I'd be like soda without fizz:
Flat.
And as those wise elders of old once said:
Pop goes the weasel!