Ryōkan — "As a boy I learned the classics..."

As a boy I learned the classics

but was too lazy to become a Confucian.

As a young man I chased after zen,

but gained no Dharma worth passing on.

Now I live in a hut by a Shinto shrine

and work as the custodian,

sometimes caretaker, sometimes monk.

                                        _____________________

Ryōkan. Between the Floating Mist. trans. by Dennis Maloney and Hide Oshiro. Buffalo, N.Y.: White Pine Press, 2009.

Ink painting by Koshi no Sengai (1895-1958).