Reflected in the Water

Inside the sacred fence
Before which I bow
There must be a pond
Filled with clear water;
As my mind-moon becomes bright
I see its shadow reflected in the water.

- Daito Kokushi

Aikijutsu Academy of New York Blog

Magnificent Peak

By its own nature
It towers above
The tangle of rivers
Don’t say it’s a lot of dirt
Piled high
Without end the mists of dawn,
The evening clouds
Draw their shadows across it
From the four directions
You can look up and see it
Green and steep and wild.

- Muso (1275-1351)

Aikijutsu Academy of New York Blog

Utter Emptiness

As to the roaming of sages,
They move in utter emptiness,
Let their minds meander in the great nothingness;
They run beyond convention
And go through where there is no gateway.
They listen to the soundless
And look at the formless,
They are not constrained by society
And not bound to its customs.

- Lao-tzu

Aikijutsu Academy of New York Blog

Yaahh!

Perceive the way and you attain
A point of safety and anchorage.
Enter the way and you attain
The realm of danger and lose your life.
Safety and danger, life and death;
All come from where?
The activity of the great ones is,
When hanging over a cliff
One thousand feet high,
To be able to let go.
Yaahh!

- Sosan Taesa (1520-1604)

Aikijutsu Academy of New York Blog

The Mind-Seal

This is the Mind-seal of not one thing.
What is “not one thing?”
Mountains fresh and green,
Water clear and flowing.

- Yamaoka Tesshu (1830)

Aikijutsu Academy of New York Blog

By Any Other Name..

One of master Gasan's monks visited the university in Tokyo. When he returned, he asked the master if he had ever read the Christian Bible. "No," Gasan replied, "Please read some of it to me." The monk opened the Bible to the Sermon on the Mount in St. Matthew, and began reading. After reading Christ's words about the lilies in the field, he paused. Master Gasan was silent for a long time. "Yes," he finally said, "Whoever uttered these words is an enlightened being. What you have read to me is the essence of everything I have been trying to teach you here!"

Aikijutsu Academy of New York Blog

But a Drop of Water

However deep your
Knowledge of the scriptures,
It is no more than a strand of hair
In the vastness of space;
However important appears
Your worldly experience,
It is but a drop of water in a deep ravine.

Tokusan

Aikijutsu Academy of New York Blog