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> 150 quotes tagged "nature"

The Tao is like a well: used but never used up. It is deep like the eternal void; It may seem to be the ancestor of the ten thousand things.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 4

emptiness nature eternal
Heaven and Earth are not humane; They regard the ten thousand things as straw dogs.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 5

nature acceptance impartiality
The valley spirit never dies; It is called the mysterious female. The gateway of the mysterious female Is called the root of heaven and earth.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 6

nature feminine eternal
Heaven and Earth last forever. Why do they last forever? They are unborn, so ever living.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 7

nature humility eternal
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 23

nature simplicity quiet
There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 25

nature eternal mystery
The great Tao flows everywhere, both to the left and to the right.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 34

nature flow impartiality
The Tao brings forth all things, nourishes them, and does not abandon them.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 51

nature nurturing non-possession
The beginning of the Tao is the mother of the world.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 52

nature source return
The perfect person has no fixed self. The wise person claims no special achievements. The sage seeks no recognition or fame.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 1: Free and Easy Wandering

freedom nature chuang-tzu
Let go of the years. Forget artificial distinctions. Leap into the boundless realm and make it your home.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 2: The Equality of Things

perspective relativity non-duality nature
Life and death are as natural and inevitable as the succession of day and night.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 6: The Great Teacher

transformation change death nature
When you're content with your time and dwell in the natural order, neither sorrow nor joy can disturb you.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 6: The Great Teacher

transformation change acceptance nature
Better to stop in time than to fill things to overflowing. A blade sharpened too much quickly becomes dull.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 3: The Secret of Caring for Life

moderation preservation nature chuang-tzu
Things achieve completion and then return to their source. Returning to the source is called stillness.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 16: Mending Nature

cycles restoration nature chuang-tzu
The hundred joints, nine openings, and six organs all exist in harmony. Which should I prefer? Do you treat them all as servants?

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 2: The Equality of Things

perspective relativity non-duality nature
The cook was cutting up an ox. Every touch of his hand, every heave of his shoulder, every step of his foot, every thrust of his knife followed the natural grain.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 3: The Secret of Caring for Life

moderation preservation nature chuang-tzu
Follow the middle path. Go by what is constant, and you can preserve yourself, care for your parents, and live out your years.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 3: The Secret of Caring for Life

moderation preservation nature chuang-tzu
Can you embrace the One without letting go? Can you concentrate your vital force and become supple as an infant?

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 23: Gengsang Chu

nature chuang-tzu
If a bird builds its nest deep in the forest, it uses only a single branch. If an animal drinks from the river, it takes only what fills its belly.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 1: Free and Easy Wandering

freedom nature chuang-tzu
When you wear out your mind trying to make things one, without realizing they already share a common nature, it's called using three in the morning.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 2: The Equality of Things

perspective relativity non-duality nature
Heaven does nothing, yet nothing is left undone. Earth does nothing, yet everything is transformed and nourished.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 13: The Way of Heaven

tao natural-order nature chuang-tzu
A duck's legs are short, but if we try to lengthen them, the duck will feel pain. A crane's legs are long, but if we try to shorten them, the crane will feel sorrow.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 8: Webbed Toes

nature acceptance chuang-tzu
The perfect person has no self, the spiritual person has no achievement, the true person has no name.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 1: Free and Easy Wandering

freedom nature chuang-tzu
Do you think the Creator is concerned whether you're a shoulder or a liver? He's going to transform you into whatever fits the pattern.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 6: The Great Teacher

transformation change acceptance nature
When you bet for tiles in an archery contest, you shoot with skill. When you bet for fancy buckles, you worry about your aim. When you bet for real gold, you're a nervous wreck.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 19: Mastering Life

skill effortless nature chuang-tzu
The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 15: Ingrained Ideas

nature water chuang-tzu
Do not seek fame. Do not make plans. Do not try to do things. Do not try to master knowledge. Embrace the infinite and wander where there is no path.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 7: Fit for Emperors and Kings

emptiness mirror-mind nature chuang-tzu
If you're going to travel far, you need to take food for the journey. But for the journey to the infinite, no provisions are necessary.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 1: Free and Easy Wandering

freedom nature chuang-tzu
Security in the midst of change is found by identifying with the process rather than the form.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 6: The Great Teacher

transformation change nature chuang-tzu
When the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten. When the belt fits, the belly is forgotten. When the mind is right, both approval and disapproval are forgotten.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 19: Mastering Life

skill effortless nature mind
Great speech seems inarticulate. Great action seems ineffective. Great form seems imperfect.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 27: Imputed Words

nature simplicity chuang-tzu
Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force. They feel no wear, they feel no tear, they need no mending, no repair.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 19: Mastering Life

skill effortless nature chuang-tzu
Before I was born, I didn't know happiness. After I die, I won't know sorrow. So why should I be concerned with either now?

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 18: Perfect Happiness

contentment joy nature chuang-tzu
Those who understand the natural order don't struggle against circumstances. Those who understand fate don't struggle against what comes.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 5: The Sign of Virtue Complete

wholeness virtue acceptance nature
The skilled cook changes knives once a year because he cuts skillfully. The ordinary cook changes knives monthly because he hacks.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 3: The Secret of Caring for Life

moderation preservation nature chuang-tzu
By letting things alone, allowing each to be what it is, you discover that all things flourish naturally.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 11: Let It Be, Leave It Alone

nature chuang-tzu
When you're betting with tiles, your skill shows. When you're betting with gold, your hands shake. External pressure distorts natural ability.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 19: Mastering Life

skill effortless nature chuang-tzu
The wise person's movement leaves no trace. Their speech creates no arguments. Their calculations use no counting rods.

Chuang Tzu, Chapter 27: Imputed Words

nature chuang-tzu
A monk asked, 'Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?' Zhaozhou said, 'The cypress tree in the courtyard.'

Blue Cliff Record

seeing present-moment no-self direct-experience
It's like a person hanging in a tree by his teeth over a precipice. His hands grasp no branch, his feet rest on no limb. Someone under the tree asks him, 'Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?' If he doesn't answer, he fails. If he does answer, he falls to his death. What should he do?

Blue Cliff Record, Case 5

inquiry paradox present-moment death
A monk asked Longya, 'The physical body decays. What is the indestructible body of reality?' Longya said, 'The mountain flowers bloom like brocade, the valley streams are brimming blue.'

Traditional Zen

seeing no-self death nature
Why do we humans go on endlessly about little when nature does much in a little time?

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 23

nature tao-te-ching
The virtue of Tao in nature nurtures them, and their families give them their form.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 51

nature tao-te-ching virtue tao
The superior person settles her mind as the universe settles the stars in the sky. By connecting her mind with the subtle origin, she calms it. Once calmed, it naturally expands.

Hua Hu Jing, Verse 5

nature peace mind hua-hu-jing
Your nature and the integral nature of the universe are one and the same: indescribable, but eternally present. Simply open yourself to this.

Hua Hu Jing, Verse 24

nature unity self hua-hu-jing
Join your body, mind, and spirit in all you do. Choose food, clothing, and shelter that accords with nature. Understand that true growth comes from meeting and solving the problems of life in a way that is harmonizing.

Hua Hu Jing, Verse 43

nature hua-hu-jing spiritual mind
Live simply and virtuously, true to your nature, drawing no line between what is spiritual and what is not. Ignore time. Relinquish ideas and concepts. Embrace the Oneness.

Hua Hu Jing, Verse 50

nature virtue hua-hu-jing spiritual
The four cardinal virtues: reverence for all life, natural sincerity, gentleness, and supportiveness. When practiced, they give birth to wisdom and evoke health, wealth, happiness, longevity, and peace.

Hua Hu Jing, Verse 51

nature virtue hua-hu-jing practice
That which is produced cannot but continue producing; that which is evolved cannot but continue evolving.

Lieh Tzu, Book 1: Cosmogony

creation transformation nature
Form is something that must come to an end. Heaven and Earth have an end, even as we all have an end.

Lieh Tzu, Book 1: Cosmogony

impermanence nature acceptance
The part that belongs to Heaven is ethereal and dispersive, the part that belongs to Earth is dense and tending to conglomeration.

Lieh Tzu, Book 1: Cosmogony

harmony balance nature
Evolution is never-ending. Diminution and augmentation, fullness and decay are constant accompaniments of life and death.

Lieh Tzu, Book 1: Cosmogony

transformation cycles nature
The great principle of Heaven and earth is to treat public property as such and private property as such.

Lieh Tzu, Book 1: Cosmogony

balance nature harmony
I knew not whether the wind was riding on me or I on the wind.

Lieh Tzu, Book 2: The Yellow Emperor

unity nature oneness
The lesser is always enclosed by a greater, without ever reaching an end.

Lieh Tzu, Book 5: Questions of T'ang

infinity recursion nature
Every ruler must eventually yield their throne to successors—this is the natural order, not personal tragedy.

Lieh Tzu, Book 6: Effort and Destiny

cycles nature ego
When his body was bent, the shadow was crooked; when his body was upright, the shadow was straight. Attributes of consequence arise from causes, not inherent nature.

Lieh Tzu, Book 7: Causality

cause-effect nature reality
The ancients understood life's brevity and therefore gave way to their impulses and did not check their natural propensities. By following their nature rather than external demands, they lived without internal conflict.

Yang Chu's Garden of Pleasure, Ch. 3

simplicity nature authenticity
It suffices to give it its free course, neither checking nor obstructing it. True vitality emerges when we stop interfering with our natural inclinations.

Yang Chu's Garden of Pleasure, Ch. 8

nature simplicity wu-wei
Allow each sense its natural expression—the ear to hear music, the eye to see beauty, the nose to smell perfume. Denying these natural desires creates unnecessary suffering.

Yang Chu's Garden of Pleasure, Ch. 8

senses acceptance nature
According to the laws of nature there is no such thing as immortality. Seeking eternal life contradicts natural law.

Yang Chu's Garden of Pleasure, Ch. 11

mortality nature acceptance
Neither can life be preserved by cherishing nor the body benefited by fostering. Effort to extend life through excessive care proves ineffective against natural forces.

Yang Chu's Garden of Pleasure, Ch. 11

futility nature acceptance
The nature of water is to be clear and pure; but it is made turbid by the soil. Our natural state is serene until corrupted by external desires.

Huai Nan Tzu, Essay 2

purity nature simplicity
The sage nourishes natural harmony rather than restraining desires through rules—addressing the source rather than symptoms.

Huai Nan Tzu, Essay 3

authenticity virtue nature
The rule of the T‛ai Ch‛ing was in accord with Heaven, and beneficial to creation. When human governance aligns with natural principles, society flourishes effortlessly.

Huai Nan Tzu, Essay 4

governance nature harmony
The more the display of ability, the less becomes the power of virtue. Excessive cleverness and technological advancement diminish genuine spiritual power.

Huai Nan Tzu, Essay 4

simplicity skill nature
Show concern for even insects, plants, and trees—avoid harming them.

T'ai-Shang Kan-Ying P'ien – Moral Injunctions

compassion nature non-harm reverence
Spring comes with its flowers, autumn with the moon, summer with the breeze, winter with snow. When idle concerns don't fill your thoughts, that's your best season.

Zen Poem – Wu-men Huai-kai (Mumon) (1183-1260)

seasons nature peace mindfulness
Drinking tea, eating rice, I pass my time as it comes. Looking down at the stream, looking up at the mountain, how serene and relaxed I feel indeed!

Zen Poem – Nan-ch'üan P'u-yüan (748-835)

simplicity contentment nature peace
I stroll along the stream up to where it ends, then sit and watch the time when clouds rise up.

Zen Poem – Wang Wei (699-761)

nature contemplation stillness meditation
The wind dies down, the flowers still fall. Birds call, and the mountains grow darker yet.

Zen Poem – Fa-yen (885-958)

nature impermanence beauty contemplation
Winds die down, clouds disappear; the sky clears. Snow melts, the mountain is bright. In doing all this, the Absolute neither decreases nor increases, neither goes nor comes.

Zen Poem – Keizan Jõkin (1268-1325)

nature unchanging tao eternal
The blue mountains are constantly walking. The stone woman gives birth to a child in the night.

Zen Poem – Dōgen (1200-1253)

paradox nature zen-koan mystery
I cherish the green bamboos in front of the step, and the green mountains beyond the window, eternally fresh.

Zen Poem – T'ien-t'ai Te-chao (891-972)

nature beauty simplicity contentment
Living with a cloud, I share a mountain hut. How free and easy I feel in this floating world!

Zen Poem – Kuei-tsung Chih-chih

freedom simplicity nature contentment
Thirty years ago when I was a novice I took the sword and cut the spring breeze. Today the spring breeze is still blowing as before.

Zen Poem – Wu-hsüeh Tsu-yüan (1226-1286)

impermanence nature zen time
To be always talking is against nature. For the same reason a hurricane never lasts a whole morning, nor a rainstorm all day. Who is it that makes the wind and rain? It is Heaven-and Earth. And if even Heaven-and Earth cannot blow or pour for long, how much less in his utterance should man?

Tao Te Ching, Chapter 23

nature brevity silence naturalness
If you cannot trust yourself, you cannot even trust your mistrust of yourself – so that without this underlying trust in the whole system of nature you are simply paralyzed.

Alan Watts

trust self acceptance nature
Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.

Alan Watts

consciousness unity nature no-self
Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.

Alan Watts

acceptance non-duality nature seeing
What I am really saying is that you don't need to do anything, because if you see yourself in the correct way, you are all as much extraordinary phenomenon of nature as trees, clouds, the patterns in running water, the flickering of fire, the arrangement of the stars, and the form of a galaxy. You are all just like that, and there is nothing wrong with you at all.

Alan Watts

no-self nature acceptance wu-wei
How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as the ears, and such fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain can experience itself anything less than a god.

Alan Watts

consciousness nature wonder unity
The world is precisely the relationship between the world and its witnesses, and so if there are no eyes in this world, the sun doesn't make any light, nor do the stars.

Alan Watts

consciousness non-duality perception nature
Attain complete emptiness. Hold firm to stillness. The ten thousand things arise together; in their arising I see their return. They flourish and each returns to its root. Returning to one's roots is known as stillness. Stillness is the return to one's destiny.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 16

emptiness stillness return tao-te-ching
The old pond — a frog jumps in — sound of water.

Matsuo Basho (1686)

emptiness ma japanese presence
Such silence — the voice of cicadas seeps into the rocks.

Matsuo Basho

emptiness ma japanese silence
Man follows earth. Earth follows heaven. Heaven follows the Tao. The Tao follows what is natural.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 25

flow naturalness tao tao-te-ching
Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step

present-moment practice mindfulness thich-nhat-hanh
The Wave does not need to die to become water. She is already water.

Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear

no-self non-duality thich-nhat-hanh impermanence
Wherever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are still one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true than you can hear.

Shunryu Suzuki

unity non-duality shunryu-suzuki nature
Men ask the way to Cold Mountain. Cold Mountain: there's no through trail. In summer, ice doesn't melt. The rising sun blurs in swirling fog. How did I make it? My heart's not the same as yours. If your heart was like mine You'd get it and be right here.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems, tr. Gary Snyder

nature stillness han-shan inquiry
My mind is like the autumn moon Shining clean and clear in the green pool. No, that's not a good comparison. Tell me, how shall I explain?

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

mind nature han-shan inquiry
Cold Mountain is a house Without beams or walls. The six doors left and right are open, The hall is blue sky.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

emptiness nature han-shan freedom
In my first thirty years of life I roamed hundreds and thousands of miles. Walked by rivers through deep green grass, Entered cities of boiling red dust. Tried drugs, but couldn't make Immortal. Read books and wrote poems on history. Today I'm back at Cold Mountain. I'll sleep by the creek and purify my ears.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems, tr. Gary Snyder

solitude nature han-shan simplicity
I have lived at Cold Mountain These thirty long years. Yesterday I called on friends and family: More than half had gone to Yellow Springs. Slow burn, like fire in a house. Quick change, like the passing of rapids. Now this morning facing my lone shadow Unconsciously the tears flow down.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

impermanence grief han-shan solitude
The path to Han-shan's place is laughable — A path, but no sign of cart or horse. Converging gorges — hard to trace their twists. Cliffs, with moss too slick to climb.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems, tr. Gary Snyder

nature solitude han-shan simplicity
Sitting alone beside a cliff, The full moon a lantern before me. Not a thought about the universe: This quiet illuminates everything.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

stillness nature han-shan silence
Spring water in the green creek is clear, Moonlight on Cold Mountain is white. Silent knowledge — the spirit is enlightened of itself. Contemplate the void: this world exceeds stillness.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

nature stillness han-shan emptiness
Today I sat before the cliff, Sat a long time till mist and clouds arose. Mist and clouds — a moment of affairs. This old man — what have they to do with me?

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

stillness nature han-shan impermanence
Our original nature is, in highest truth, devoid of any atom of objectivity. It is void, omnipresent, silent, pure; it is glorious and mysterious peaceful joy — and that is all.

Huang Po, The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, tr. John Blofeld

emptiness no-self huang-po stillness
Deep and distant, the road to Cold Mountain — long gorges choked with boulders, wide streams blurred with mist. The grasses are thick and the path is lost. Even when the wind is still, the pines keep sighing. Who can reach this place? Only someone whose heart is already here.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Among layered cliffs I chose my home. Birds are my only companions through the years. What is happening in the world beyond the peaks? I watch the clouds and do not need to ask. Moss has grown over the stone steps. The white mist drifts through my open door. A monk came once and showed me the road out of delusion. I have not moved since.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
When people see Cold Mountain they say there is nothing remarkable. No jade tower, no golden gate. Just a cold mist among cold rocks. But the man who lives here finds it impossible to leave.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
In the white clouds, I live at ease. A lone wild crane crosses the evening sky. On the cliffs pines stand rooted in nothing. Below, the valley fills with dark water. I have a gourd of wine and a bundle of firewood. Why would I go back?

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The body is a borrowed house — who knows how long the loan will last? The mind is an untethered boat, drifting on whatever water comes. Do not hold tightly to either. The house will be reclaimed. The boat will find its own shore.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
All day I read the ancient books. All night the lamp burns down. At dawn I close the last page and still I have not arrived. A sparrow lands on the sill and sings one note. I put the books away.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The world runs after shadows — fame, rank, a bigger house. They exhaust themselves chasing what dissolves the moment they touch it. I sit by the spring and watch it flow. There is nowhere I need to arrive.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
A cold stream, the moon reflected. My face and the moon in the same water — neither of us speaking, neither of us separate. By morning the reflection is gone. The moon does not mourn it.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Stone steps leading upward, no end in sight. I climb, and the mist closes behind me. Below, the village sounds fade. Above, only wind and the smell of pine. I am not going anywhere. I am going.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The pine wind sounds in the valley at night. A single owl asks its one question. I cannot answer the owl. The owl cannot answer the wind. The wind cannot answer the valley. All night they continue their conversation.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Autumn comes to the mountain without asking. The leaves do not argue. The stream does not slow its pace in grief. One day the hillside is green. The next, it has forgotten green entirely. I sit and watch the mountain receive autumn the way the mountain receives everything — completely, without comment.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
A stone for a pillow. A stream for a mirror. A cliff face covered in poems no one reads. This is enough. This is more than enough.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
No visitors for a hundred days. Moss reclaims the path. The vines have crossed the doorway. I do not clear them. This is what the mountain does to a house when the house stops insisting on itself.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The valley fills with evening mist and I cannot see the far cliff. Yesterday it was there, solid and absolute. Tonight it is gone. Tomorrow it will be there again. The cliff has learned something I have not yet learned.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
I know one thing for certain: the stream does not ask where it is going. It finds the low place by itself. It does not consult a map. The water that fell as snow last winter arrives at the sea without having planned a single step.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Rising before dawn, I carry water from the lower spring. The mountain does not know my name. The spring does not know my name. The bucket does not know my name. Only my feet know the path — and they have forgotten the rest.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The cold spring water tastes of high rock, of pine root, of a thousand years of silence. Drinking it, I forget what city I came from. Drinking it again, I forget I ever forgot.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Books and swords — both too heavy. I left them at the bottom of the mountain. The climb is easier now but I am not sure where I am going. That too is easier now.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Looking back on my youth: every ambition, a knot tied for no reason. Every desire, a door opened onto another door. Now I sit in the one room that has no door and find I have been here the whole time.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Born into this cage of flesh and bone, carrying it up the mountain every day. The cage does not complain. I do not complain about the cage. We have reached an understanding.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Nothing in the mind — and the whole world is present. Fill the mind with plans and schemes and the whole world contracts to the size of a fist.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The crane returns to its nest at dusk without having decided to return. I watch it from the cliff edge and feel ashamed of all my decisions.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
I met a man on the path who asked: where does this road lead? I told him: it leads back to where you came from. He laughed and went on. I went on too. We arrived at the same place from opposite directions.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The peach trees by the eastern cliff bloom every spring without consulting anyone. No one planted them. No one prunes them. They have outlasted every hermit who has watched them and they will outlast me.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Three roads lead down from this mountain: one toward wine, one toward rank, one toward silence. Two of them are crowded. One is overgrown and hard to follow. I have worn it smooth going back and forth.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The rich man builds walls around his garden. The poor man's garden has no walls — it extends in every direction. Who has the larger garden?

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Someone carved their name into the cliff face. Ten years later, moss covered it. Twenty years later, no one can read it. The cliff has written its own name over theirs: silence.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
In spring the mountain is easy to love. In summer, endurable. In autumn, magnificent. In winter, honest. I prefer winter.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
All who read my poems, know this: they were not written for you. They were written on bark and stone for the wind and the rain to erase. That you have found them means the wind and rain were merciful. Or perhaps they intended this.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
When I leave this mountain I will leave it completely — no thread of habit connecting me to it, no ghost of regret walking the old paths. This is how the mountain leaves winter: without looking back.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
A monk asked me: what is your practice? I showed him the stream. He looked at the stream for a long time. Then he asked: and what is the stream's practice? I went inside and made tea.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The woodcutter passes my door every morning. Every morning he nods. In ten years, we have not exchanged a single word. This is the best conversation I have ever had.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Mind is the root. The ten thousand things are its branches. If you see only branches you will spend your life climbing and never reach the tree.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Life and death are one road. I do not know the exact border crossing. But I know the customs officers ask for nothing you can carry.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
A thousand years of moss on these rocks. I have been here thirty years and feel I arrived this morning. The moss has no such illusions.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The world's clever people find Cold Mountain foolish. The world's foolish people find Cold Mountain unreachable. I find it right here under my feet.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
At night the stars fill the gorge below me — they look like a city seen from above. The city looks like stars seen from below. I am above both and belong to neither and the cold is clean.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Someone came looking for Han Shan. I watched him from the cliff above. He called out several times. His voice echoed back to him. Perhaps that was answer enough.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
I have no mirror here. My face is reflected in the stream but the stream moves and my face moves with it. A moving face — this is a good face. A fixed face is what they put on a tomb.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
Beyond this cliff: another cliff. Beyond that cliff: sky. Beyond the sky? I have run out of cliffs but the question keeps climbing.

Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

han-shan nature solitude stillness
The ancient masters were subtle, mysterious, profound, responsive. The depth of their knowledge is unfathomable. Because it is unfathomable, All we can do is describe their appearance. Watchful, like men crossing a winter stream. Alert, like men aware of danger. Courteous, like visiting guests. Yielding, like ice about to melt. Simple, like uncarved blocks of wood. Hollow, like caves. Opaque, like muddy pools.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 15

wisdom subtlety mystery practice
Empty yourself of everything. Let the mind rest at peace. The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return. They grow and flourish and then return to the source. Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 16

stillness emptiness return nature
Heaven and Earth last for ever. Why do Heaven and Earth last for ever? They are unborn, So ever living.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 7

nature eternal humility wu-wei
Express yourself completely, then keep quiet. Be like the forces of nature: when it blows, there is only wind; when it rains, there is only rain; when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 23

silence nature authenticity wu-wei
Thorn bushes spring up wherever the army has passed. Lean years follow in the wake of a great war.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 30

war consequence non-violence governance
Tao in the world is like a river flowing home to the sea.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 32

tao nature flow return
That which shrinks must first expand. That which fails must first be strong. That which is cast down must first be raised. Before receiving there must be giving.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 36

cycles paradox yin-yang reversal
The ten thousand things carry yin and embrace yang. They achieve harmony by combining these forces.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 42

yin-yang harmony duality balance
All things arise from Tao. They are nourished by Virtue. They are formed by matter. They are shaped by environment. Thus the ten thousand things all respect Tao and honour Virtue.

Tao Te Ching – Chapter 51

tao virtue creation nature