Filler Post #1

Poem of Bankei (Zen master: 1622-1693)

Ideas of what’s good and what’s bad
Are all due to this self of yours

In winter, a bonfire spells delight
But when summertime arrives
What a nuisance it becomes!

And the breezes you loved in summer
Even before the autumn’s gone
Already have become a bother

Throwing your whole life away
Sacrificed to the thirst for gold
But when you saw your life was through
All your money was no use

You think that good means hating what is bad
What’s bad is the hating mind itself

Notions of what one should do
Never existed from the start
Fighting about what’s right, what’s wrong
That’s the doing of the “I”

These days I’m not bothering about
Getting enlightenment all the time
And the result is I wake up in the morning feeling fine!

Praying for salvation in the world to come
Praying for your own selfish ends
Is only piling on more and more
Self-centeredness and arrogance

Die—then live
Day and night within the world
Once you’ve done this, then you can
Hold the world right in your hand!

People have no enemies
None at all right from the start
You create them all yourself
Fighting over right and wrong

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