My home was at Cold Mountain from the start,
Rambling among the hills, far from trouble.
Gone, and a million things leave no trace
Loose, and it flows through the galaxies
A fountain of light, into the very mind—
Not a thing, and yet it appears before me:
Now I know the pearl of the Buddha-nature
Know its use: a boundless perfect sphere.
After a day of rain in the Tucson basin and snow on Mt. Lemmon, Tom, John, Jim and I hiked the Wildhorse Trail in the Saguaro National Park-East.
Click Here To See More Wildhorse Trail Images by kenne
Some critic tried to put me down —
“Your poems lack the Basic Truth of Tao”
And I recall the old-times
Who were poor and didn’t care.
I have to laugh at him,
He misses the point entirely,
Men like that
Ought to stick to making money.
The Path to His Mountain Place — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The path to Han-shan’s place is laughable, A path, but no sign of cart or horse. Converging gorges — hard to trace the twists Jumbled cliffs — unbelievably rugged. A thousand grasses bend with dew, A hill of pines hums in the wind. And now I’ve lost the shortcut home, Body asking shadow, how do you keep up?
It started just now with a hummingbird Hovering over the porch two yards away then gone, It stopped me studying. I saw the redwood post Leaning in clod ground Tangled in a bush of yellow flowers Higher than my head, through which we push Every time we came inside — The shadow network of the sunshine Through its vines. White-crowned sparrows Made tremendous singings in the trees The rooster down the valley crows and crows. Jack Kerouac outside, behind my back Reads the Diamond Sutra in the sun.
I’ve lived at Cold Mountain — how many autumns. Alone, I hum a song — utterly without regret. Hungry, I eat one grain of Immortal-medicine Mind solid and sharp; leaning on stone.
Early December Snow On The Santa Catalina Mountains — Image by kenne
I hold the most archaic values on earth:
— the fertility of the soul — the magic of the animals — the power-vision in solitude — the love & ecstasy of the dance — the common work of the tribe
— Gary Snyder
This is posted as we watch severe weather, rain, and snow across the southeast states. Our snow at the higher elevations of the surrounding mountains is nothing — stay dry and warm dear friends and family.