Ikkyu: "Nature's Way"

Ikkyu gazes at the mountains. From "Ikkyu Shokoku Monogatari Zue."

The wise heathens have no knowledge;

They just keep their mind continually set on the Way.

There are no big-shot Buddhas in nature,

And ten thousand sutras are distilled in a single song.

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Ikkyu, "Nature's Way," in Wild Ways: Zen Poems of Ikkyu, trans. by John Stevens. Buffalo, NY: White Pine Press, 2003.

White Pine Press founder and publisher Dennis Maloney and his wife Elaine are canyon residents who divide their time between Big Sur and New York. Whenever I pick up one of their "Companions for the Journey Series" titles from my bookshelf, the poems I find seem meant to be read right where I'm standing.