A Selection of Dogen's Poems

A. Impermanence
To what shall
I liken the world?
Moonlight, reflected
In dewdrops,
Shaken from a crane's bill.


B. Enlightenment
Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

C. On Nondependence of Mind
Water birds
going and coming
their traces disappear
but they never
forget their path.

D. Viewing Peach Blossoms and Realizing the Way
In spring wind
peach blossoms
begin to come apart.
Doubts do not grow
branches and leaves.

E. Mountain Seclusion
I won't even stop
at the valley's brook
for fear that
my shadow
may flow into the world.

[NOTE: This was originally posted on Dec 14, 2007.]