Chan Dharma Community

Spring 2025 Edition

Sharing Inspiration Through Poetry

Dear Friends,

In his introduction to The Poetry of Enlightenment, Master Sheng Yen wrote that "since Chan is basically ineffable, the authors [of the poems in the book] relied heavily on allusions, similes, and metaphors."

Ineffable. . . Those of us who have attended intensive Chan retreats probably recall our teachers discussing the limits of language in teaching and learning Dharma concepts. Yet Rebecca Li often shares and discusses verses from poems and sutras in her written and oral teaching.

Poetry is well suited for this purpose, if we understand the use of poetic language as a device for communicating that which cannot be expressed with words. Many masters used poetry as a form of documentation and teaching—writing poems, as Master Sheng Yen said, "to express their experiences of Ch'an, to provide future generations with the means of realizing Ch'an, and to describe the situation of the mind after enlightenment."

The gifts of the Dharma can only be fully realized by engaging in the practice, which Dr. John Crook points to in the final stanzas of a poem that many of us have recited as part of the Western Zen Retreat liturgy, On Pursuing That Which Has No Tracks:

And let it all go!

Fall!

Gone gone altogether gone!

See within the Universe ringing in your ears.

Time and space

are simply the ring

through which the Tiger

jumps.

Below you will find several verses of poetry and sutras generously shared by Chan Dharma Community members who were inspired and intrigued by them. May their inspiration and curiosity be contagious.

With palms joined,

Lee Harrison (and on behalf of the CDC Program Committee)

From Crager Boardman:

From The Song of Enlightenment by Yung Chia Hsuan Cheuh

The mani pearl is unknown to people;

It can be personally found in the Tathagatagarbha.

The functions of the six senses are both empty and not empty,

One perfect light with form yet formless.

From Peter Clement:

From 108 Adages of wisdom by Shifu:

A boat passes, its wake disappears;

a bird flies, its shadow departs.

Whether you gain or lose,

succeed or fail—emotions do not stir:

this is the great wisdom

of freedom and liberation.

From Alejandro A Forte:

I chose the following lines from the poem “Pandemic” by Rev. Lynn Ungar:

Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.

And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.

From TzouMin Hsiung:

From “Realizing Genjōkōan, The Key to Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō (Translated by Shohaku Okumura):

Conveying oneself toward all things to carry out

practice-enlightenment is delusion.

All things coming and carrying out

practice-enlightenment through the self is realization.

A note from the translator: “We try to see and capture reality with our minds, abilities, willpower, and effort; we try to become enlightened in order to put everything under the control of the self so that our life is stable and peaceful. This attitude, according to Dōgen, is delusion. The subject of practice is not the personal self but all beings. To practice is to awaken to the self that is connected to all beings, or the ten thousand dharmas. Dōgen says that these myriad dharmas are themselves Buddha Dharma, and the reality of all dharmas is the Dharma body of Buddha—the dharmakaya—or Buddha itself.”

From Joe Beck:

“Sitting by the Open Window” by Bhikkhu Abhinando, dhammamoon.org

as every night

tomorrow’s moon is hiding

behind the clouds

of yesterday

then

a cool breeze

lifts the shadow of thought

your emotions huddle together

waiting for direction

ready to go

or surrender

while

this growing silence

eats you

alive

An excerpt from Rumi:

If everything around you seems dark, look again, you may be the light.

An excerpt from Rumi:

Last night I begged the Wise One to tell me the secret of the world.

Gently, gently he whispered,

"Be quiet,

this secret cannot be spoken,

it is wrapped in silence."

From Sandra Hughes:

It's funny how things present themselves in the silent moments, giving one great insight . In my meditation practice this morning, which is not as often as I would like, I stumbled upon a poem that in its totality is quite powerful. I connected with these stanzas in regards to my Dharma practice and journey. For me, the stanzas represent my quest to embrace the joy and suffering of life with right view. The ability to experience peace in the midst of both realms, without clinging to the fleeting experience of one and being consumed by the dread of the other. In the end, both are the things of life to be embraced with a clear mind. These stanzas help bring clarity in my desire to suffer less, and, in turn, to cause less suffering for others.

From "Please Call Me by My True Names" by Thich Nhat Hanh:

Please call me by my true names,

so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at

once,

so I can see my joy and pain are one

Please call me by my true names,

so I can wake up,

and so the door of my heart

can be left open,

the door of compassion

From Jenny Tseng:

From chapter 23 of the Diamond Sutra, “All Dharmas Are Equal”:

Furthermore, Subhuti, all dharmas are equal, none is superior or inferior.

From Heather Swope:

I LOVE poetry! A few lines from Alfred Tennyson's “Moral” that have always meant a lot to me. It reminds me that depending on where we are in our practice events and people, places and the present moment can be so very different to us.

But any man that walks the mead,
In bud or blade, or bloom, may find,
According as his humours lead,
A meaning suited to his mind.

From Jerry Rudoshko:

“Silent”

silent I sit here

the mind illuminated

emptiness opens

Chan Dharma Community

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Practitioners meet on Zoom on the second Wednesday of the month from December 2024 to May 2025 to share their reflections on the month’s theme based on an assigned chapter in the book Illumination by Rebecca Li. The topic of this year’s course is examining six modes of operation discussed in the second half of the book, cultivating clear awareness of the ways in which we generate suffering for ourselves and cause harm to others and practicing to recognize and release these unhelpful habits. The course is ongoing and registration is now closed.

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