Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Way Things Are

The following poem is by Tung-shan Liang-chieh, the 9th century Zen teacher who is said to have attained enlightenment when, wading a river, he glimpsed his reflection in the water.

If you look for the truth outside yourself,
it gets farther and farther away.
Today, walking alone,
I meet him everywhere I step.

He is the same as me,
yet I am not him.
Only if you understand it in this way
will you merge with the way things are.

No comments: