A collection of short poems by Ikkyu, oft considered one of the most significant and eccentric figures in Japanese Zen history. He was supposedly quite a drinker, and a troublemaker, but also a wonderful transmitter and translator of Zen.
Many paths lead from
The foot of the mountain
But at the peak
We all gaze at the
Single bright moon.
- Ikkyu
Rain and hail, snow and ice
Are divided from one another;
But after they fall,
They are the same water
Of the stream in the valley.
- Ikkyu
To write something and leave it behind us,
It is but a dream.
When we awake we know
There is not even anyone to read it.
- Ikkyu
Look at the cherry blossoms!
Their color and scent fall with them,
Are gone forever,
Yet mindless
The spring comes again.
- Ikkyu
When it blows,
The mountain wind is boisterous,
But when it blows not,
It simply blows not.
- Ikkyu
The vast flood
Rolls onward
But yield yourself,
And it floats you upon it.
- Ikkyu
On the sea of death and life,
The diver's boat is frightened
With "Is" and "Is not";
But if the bottom is broken through,
"Is" and "Is not" disappear.
- Ikkyu
I would like
To offer you something,
But in the Zen school
We have nothing at all.
- Ikkyu