Mr. Charlie

People are scared to empty their minds
fearing that they will be engulfed by the void.
What they don’t realise is that
their own mind is the void.

- Huang Po




Confused by thoughts
we experience duality.
Unencumbered by ideas
the Enlightened see the one
Reality.

- Hui-Heng




To awaken suddenly to the fact
that your own Mind
is the Buddha,
that there is nothing
to be attained
or a single action
to be performed -
this is the
Supreme Way.

- Huang-Po




The Great Tao is without form,
The Absolute is without opposite;
It is both empty and unmoving,
It is not within the flow of Samsara;
The Three Realms do not contain it,
It is not within past, future, or present.

- Nan-chuan Pu-yuan




There are people who fear falling into emptiness.
Little do they know that demons have arisen in their minds.
They can neither empty their minds nor get enlightened.
And there are those who strongly seek enlightenment,
not understanding that seeking enlightenment
and wanting to attain Buddhahood
are all grave wandering thoughts.
One cannot cook sand hoping to eat rice.

- Master Empty Cloud (Hsu-yun)


Master Empty Cloud? Haha. Brilliant name.

Mr. Charlie

Who can free himself of achievement and fame

Then descend and be lost

Amidst the masses of men?

He will flow like Tao, unseen…

He will go about like life itself,

With no name and no home.

Simple is he, without.

To all appearances he is a fool.

His steps leave no trace.

He has no power.

He achieves nothing.

He has no reputation.

Since he judges no one,

No one judges him.

Such is the perfect man.

His boat is empty.


– Chuang Tzu

Mr. Charlie

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

Mr. Charlie

Two poems from the 18th century English mystic William Blake.


The tree which moves some to tears of joy
is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.
Some see nature all ridicule and deformity...
and some scarce see nature at all.
But to the eyes of the man of imagination,
nature is imagination itself.

- William Blake






To see a world in a grain of sand
and a heaven in a wild flower,
hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour.

- William Blake

Mr. Charlie

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful
than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone—
and how it slides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance—
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love—
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you
as you stand there,
empty-handed—
or have you too
turned from this world—
or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

- Mary Oliver






You may not agree,
you may not care
but if you are holding this book
you should know that
of all the sights I love in this world —
and there are plenty —
very near the top of the list is this one:
dogs without leashes.

- Mary Oliver

Mr. Charlie

Where there is great doubt,
there will be great awakening;
small doubt,
small awakening;
no doubt,
no awakening.

- Anon







You’re bound to become a buddha if you practice.
If water drips long enough
Even rocks wear through.
It’s not true thick skulls can’t be pierced;
People just imagine their minds are hard.

- Shih-wu






Things are not what they seem;
Nor are they otherwise.

- Lankavatara Sutra






So many gods
So many creeds
That wind and wind,
While just the art
Of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox









The mind is very difficult to see,
Very delicate and subtle;
It moves and lands wherever it pleases.
The wise one should guard his mind,
For a guarded mind brings happiness.

- Buddha

Mr. Charlie

What a great thread! A treasure chest no less, full of wonders. Let's wonder some more:


Wild geese go like leaves down the sky.
How should that be easy
for the traveler to hear?
A thousand mountains,
ten thousand streams,
where can we meet again?
Our faces won’t last like jade.
Life’s more like clouds.
If your way takes you
to the temple
of the Third Patriarch of Zen,
make us all one:
lay an offering by the grave.

- Anon





If you want to be a mountain-dweller...
no need to trek to India to find one.
I have a thousand peaks
to pick right here on the lake.
Fragrant grasses and white clouds
hold me here.
What holds you there,
world-dweller?

- Chiao Jan




A falcon hovers at the edge of the sky.
Two gulls drift slowly up the river.

Vulnerable while they ride the wind,
they coast and glide with ease.

Dew is heavy on the grass below,
the spider's web is ready.

Heaven's ways include the human:
among a thousand sorrows, I stand alone.

- Du Fu





To learn how to die,
watch cherry blossoms, observe
chrysanthemums.

- Anon