A passage from a beautiful Chinese poem entitled 'Spring Mountain and Night Moon' by Yu Laoshi, a poet of the Tang period in China, is known as a Zen word: 'If you scoop up water, the moon will be in your hand; if you play with flowers, the fragrance will fill your robe'.
The Chinese poem 'Spring Mountains, Night and Moon' is said to be a poem about the splendour of the mountains in spring. The translation brings to mind the image of the poet enjoying the mountains in spring, at one with nature.
///'Spring Mountain Night and Moon': free translation.
There are so many wonderful things about the mountains in spring that I forget to return home when I love them one by one.
When I scoop up a handful of water, I see the moon reflected in it, and when I play with the flowers, my clothes are filled with the fragrance of flowers.
I want to go wherever my heart takes me, loving the flowers and plants.
When the bell rings and I look to the south, the bell tower stands surrounded by buds of grass and trees.///
Now, why is the part "When I scoop up a handful of water, I see the moon reflected in it, and when I play with the flowers, my clothes are filled with the fragrance of flowers." regarded as Zen words?It is understood to be because this passage beautifully expresses 'the state where self and others become one, beyond the distinction between self and others'.
The moon in the sky, floating in my own hands. The flower that was playing with me and myself giving off the same fragrance.In other words, the viewer and the seen, the subjective and the objective, are in fact one, which is a simple expression of the Zen state of mind.
If we observe our daily life from such a perspective, we may be able to capture symbolic scenes from our ordinary daily life.One way to enjoy it.
Tosei Shinabe
Comentarios