Bassui

Look directly!
What is this?
Look in this manner
And you won’t be fooled!

Tea

Tea is not but this:
First you make the water boil,
Then infuse the tea.
Then you drink it properly.
That is all you need to know.

Hassan of Basra

I asked a child, walking with a candle,
"From where comes that light?"

Instantly he blew it out.
"Tell me where it is gone then

I will tell you where it came from." 

There ain't no answer.

There ain't no answer.
There ain't going to be an answer.
There never has been an answer.
That's the answer.

Gertrude Stein

Sound of one hand clapping

Although I try
to hold the single thought
in my heart,
I cannot help but hear
the many crickets' voices calling as well.

Daigu Ryokan

The wind brings enough of fallen leaves to make a fire.

Pang-yun

When the mind is at peace,
the world too is at peace.
you are neither holy or wise, just
a fellow who is completing his work.

Thich Nhat Hahn

If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in the piece of paper. 

Sengai

To what shall I compare this life of ours?
Even before I can say
it is like a lightning flash
or a dewdrop
it is no more.

Sound of one hand clapping

It is too clear and so it is hard to see.
A dunce once searched for a fire with a lighted lantern.
Had he known what fire was,
He could have cooked his rice much sooner.

Basho

Nothing in the cry of cicadas suggests they are about to die.

Sound of one hand clapping

Though I think
Not to think about it any more,
I do think about it,

Though I am not thinking
To think about it any more
I do think about it.

Spring has its hundred flowers

Spring has its hundred flowers,
Autumn its moon,
Summer has its cooling breezes,
Winter its snow.

If you allow no idle concerns
To weight on your heart,
Your whole life will be one
Perennial good season.

The Golden Age of  Zen

Sun Bu-er

Tie up the tiger and return it to the true lair;
Bridle the dragon and gradually increase the elixir.
Nature should be as clear as water,
Mind should be as still as the mountain.

Haiku

Everything
just as it is,
as it is,

As is,
Flowers in bloom.
Nothing to add.

Roshi

Heart Sutra

Form does not differ from emptiness;
Emptiness does not differ from form.
Form itself is emptiness;
Emptiness itself is form.

this moonlit evening

Stretched out,
Tipsy,
Under the vast sky:
Splendid dreams
Beneath the cherry blossoms.

How can I possibly sleep
This moonlit evening?
Come, my friends,
Let’s sing and dance
All night long.

like the little stream

Like the little stream
Making its way
Through the mossy crevices
We, too, quietly
Turn clear and transparent.

Beauty and Ugliness

Where beauty is, then there is ugliness;
where right is, also there is wrong.
Knowledge and ignorance are interdependent;
delusion and enlightenment condition each other.

Friends

Good friends and excellent teachers—Stick close to them!
Wealth and power are fleeting dreams
But wise words perfume the world for ages.

Daigu Ryokan

Old Korean Song

Were the pearls to fall on the rock,

Were the pearls to fall on the rock,

Would the thread be broken?

If I parted from you for a thousand years,

If I parted from you for a thousand years,

Would your heart changed?

My Lover Asks Me

My lover asks me:
"What is the difference between me and the sky?"
The difference, my love,
Is that when you laugh,
I forget about the sky

Love Compared

I do not resemble your other lovers, my lady
Should another give you a lantern,
I will give you the moon
Should he give you a branch
I will give you the trees
And if another gives you a ship
I shall give you the journey.

Light Is More Important Than The Lantern

Light is more important than the lantern,
The poem more important than the paper,
And the kiss more important than the lips.
My letters to you
Are greater and more important than both of us.
They are the only documents
Where people will discover
Your beauty
And my madness.

The Plea

If you are my lover...
Help me...to leave you
Help me...so I can be healed of you...
If I knew....
that the ocean is very deep...I would not have swam...
If I knew...how I would end,
I would not have began

I desire you...so teach me not to desire
teach me...
how to cut the roots of your love from the depths
teach me...
how tears may die in the eyes
and love may commit suicide

I conquer the world with words

I conquer the world with words,
I sweep away the beginning of things
and with a new language
that has the music of water the message of fire
I light the coming age
and stop time in your eyes
and wipe away the line
that separates
time from this single moment.

Nizar Qabbani

Speak

Speak, your lips are free.

Speak, it is your own tongue.
Speak, your life is still yours.

Speak, this brief hour is long enough
Speak, 'cause the truth is not dead yet,
Speak, speak, whatever you must speak.

Down memory Lane

Down the memory lanes, on which
you've strolled since ages past

They will end if you walk farther a step or two
Where the exits turn towards the wilderness of forgetfulness
beyond which, there isn't any Me, nor any You

My eyes hold their breath, for any moment you
may turn back, move ahead, or at least turn to look back

My heart

My heart, my friend
It has been decreed again
That it be exiled,
to go calling out in every street,
and turn to every town.
To search for a clue
of a message from my beloved.
To ask every stranger
for the way back.

Last night

Last night, long lost memory of you crept into my heart
as Spring, arriving secretly into the forsaken wilderness
as the morning breeze, echoing the silence in the desert
slowly and softly, soothing my distress heart

Faiz Ahmad Faiz 

La Vita Nuova

In that book which is
My memory . . .
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words . . .
Here begins a new life

- Dante Alighieri