Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us or we find it not.
Anonymous
Searching here and there
we may trip
and
falling over a stone
find it beautiful!
Mugo – May 2012
Here ends this series of poems and sayings. Quite soon I will climb aboard transport and eventually find myself in the North West of England again. Until then thank you to those who have read here, have left comments and who continue to read here. All very much appreciated.
May you bump into beauty, or what ever you want to call that which causes the heart to burst into song. My time here in the Black Forest and in The Netherlands has been song-full!
Here is the second part of the poem by Master Ryokan. He was pondering the ‘first cause’ and reports that the workings of my mind go dead. Now he asks others what their response is….
I took these words to the old woman in the house to the east;
the old woman in the house to the east was not pleased.
I questioned the old man in the house to the west;
the old man in the house to the west puckered his brow and walked away.
I tried writing the question on a biscuit, fed it to the dogs,
but even the dogs refused to bite….
All things born of causes end when causes run out;
but causes, what are they born of?
That very first cause – where did it come from?
At this point words fail me, workings of my mind go dead.
Master Ryokan
The rest of the poem to follow tomorrow, hopefully
The five colours blind the eye.
The five tones deafen the ear.
The five flavours dull the taste.
Racing and hunting madden the mind.
Precious things lead one astray.
Therefore the wise person is guided by what she knows
and not by what she sees.
She lets go of ‘that’ and chooses ‘this’.
Laozi, Daodejing
This is a variation on the teaching of Bodhidharma on the five senses. Our senses being hungry and craving to be satisfied. Making it that much more difficult to choose wisely. Mind is regarded as a ‘sense’ in Buddhism and as with the other five is not regarded as seperate on a fundamental level.
