Zen poetry

1. Wipe it frequently to keep it free of dust.

I am a bodhi tree, and my heart is like a mirror platform.

Wipe frequently, and don't create dust.

-Shen Xiu's Ode to Practice

Shen Xiu is the founder of Beizong Zen. He compared man's body and mind to a bodhi tree and a mirror platform. The human body is the Buddha's body, and the heart is clean. Just because of persistence, I have a relative understanding, so that I am often contaminated by dirt.

Therefore, in order to keep the heart clean, it is necessary to "wipe it often and not dust it", that is, through perseverance, we can gradually realize enlightenment and become a Buddha.

Beautiful poems vividly condense the three stages of Buddhist practice: abstinence, determination and wisdom, and embody the basic world outlook of Buddhism.

I will walk until the river blocks my way, then sit down and watch the rising clouds.

After middle age, I have a strong kind heart, and I didn't settle down at the edge of Mount Zhongnan until my later years.

Interest concentration is often unique to play and have a happy thing to enjoy self-appreciation.

Sometimes go to the end of the water to seek the source, or sit and watch the ever-changing clouds rise.

Occasionally I met a village elder in the Woods, and I chatted with him until I often forgot to go home.

-Wang Wei's "My retreat in Zhongnanshan"

Wang Wei's poems and paintings are full of Zen, and he is known as "Shi Fo" in the history of literature. What does "water poverty" mean? Climbing up, the stream finally disappeared. The climber just sat down and watched the clouds rise on the mountain. It turns out that water turns into clouds, and clouds can turn into rain. There will be water in the mountain stream, so why despair?

So is the realm of life. The process from water poverty to cloud to rain is like a person encountering great difficulties in the process of spiritual practice, including physical obstacles, psychological obstacles and environmental obstacles. If you give up because of this, you should return your thoughts to the angle of starting your heart. There was nothing at first, but looking back at the situation at that time and now, isn't it a long way?