You Complain that Buddha is Hard to Find

You Complain that Buddha is Hard to Find May 18, 2016

Hanshan

Just found myself thinking of the poet and sort of Zen guy, Hanshan.

Talking about food won’t make you full,
Babbling of clothes won’t keep out the cold.
A bowl of rice is what fills the belly;
It takes a suit of clothing to make you warm.
And yet, without stopping to consider this,
You complain that Buddha is hard to find.
Turn your mind within! There she is!
Why look for her abroad?

(slightly adapted from) Burton Watson, translator
Cold Mountain: 100 Poems by the T’ang poet Han-shan
(New York, Columbia University Press, 1970: p, 88)


Browse Our Archives

Follow Us!