THE VIEW FROM

COLD MOUNTAIN
Poems of Han-shan and Shih-te
Translated by
Arthur Tobias, James Sanford and J.P. Seaton

edited by Dennis Maloney

WHITE PINE PRESS

Han-Shan
translated by
Arthur Tobias

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

1
Divination showed my place among these bunched cliffs
where faint trails cut off the traces of men and women
what's beyond the yard
white clouds embracing hidden rocks
living here still after how many years
over and over I've seen spring and winter change
get the word to families with bells and cauldrons
empty fame has no value

(Red Pine HS 1)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

2
Everyone who reads my poems
must protect the purity of their heart's heart
cut down your craving continue your days modestly
coax the crooked and the bent then you'll be upright
drive out and chase away your evil karma
return home and follow your true nature
on that day you'll get the Buddhabody
as swiftly as Lu-ling runs

(Red Pine HS 2)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

3
Looking for a place to settle out
Cold Mountain will do it
fine wind among thick pines
the closer you listen the better the sound
under them a man his hair turning white
mumbling mumbling Taoist texts
he's been here ten years unable to return
completely forgotten the way by which he came

(Red Pine HS 4)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

4
My heart is like the autumn moon
perfectly bright in the deep green pool
nothing can compare with it
you tell me how it can be explained

(Red Pine HS 5)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

5
Wanting to go to the eastern cliff
setting out now after how many years
yesterday I used the vines to pull myself up
but halfway there wind and mist made the going tough
the narrow path grabbed at my clothes
the moss so slippery I couldn't proceed
so I stopped right here beneath this cinnamon tree
used a cloud as a pillow and went to sleep

(Red Pine HS 9)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

6
Sitting alone in peace before these cliffs
the full moon is heaven's beacon
the ten thousand things are all reflections
the moon originally has no light
wide open the spirit of itself is pure
hold fast to the void realize its subtle mystery
look at the moon like this
this moon that is the heart's pivot

(Red Pine HS 10)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

7
I like my home being well hidden
a dwelling place cut off from the world's noise and dust
trampling the grass has made three paths
looking up at the clouds makes neighbors in the four
directions
there are birds to help with the sound of the singing
but there isn't anyone to ask about the words of the
Dharma
today among these withered trees
how many years make one spring

(Red Pine HS 11)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

8
People ask the way to Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain the road doesn't go through
by summer the ice still hasn't melted
sunrise is a blur beyond the fog
imitating me how can you get here
if your heart was like mine
you'd return to the very center

(Red Pine HS 16)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

9
I live beneath a green cliff
the weeds I don't mow flourish in the yard
new vines hang down all twisted together
old rocks rise up straight in precipitous slopes
monkeys pick the mountain fruit
egrets catch the pond fish
with one or two of the immortals' books
beneath the trees I mumble reading aloud

(Red Pine HS 22)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

10
When the year passes it's exchanged for a year of
worries
but when spring arrives the colors of things are fresh
and new
mountain flowers laugh in green water
cliff trees dance in bluegreen mist
the bees and butterflies express their joy
the birds and fish are even more lovabl e
my desire for a friend to wander with still unsatisfied
I struggled all night but could not sleep

(Red Pine HS 24)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

11
Your essays are pretty good
your body is big and strong
but birth provides you with a limited body
and death makes you a nameless ghost
it's been like this since antiquity
what good will come of your present striving
if you could come here among the white clouds
I'd teach you the purple mushroom song

(Red Pine HS 25)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

12
If you 're always silent and say nothing
what stories will the younger generation have to tell
if you hide yourself away in the thickest woods
how will your wisdom's light shine through
a bag of bones is not a sturdy vessel
the wind and frost do their work soon enough
plow a stone field with a clay ox
and the harvest day will never come

(Red Pine HS 69)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

13
In the green creek spring water is clear
at Cold Mountain the moon's corona is white
silence your understanding and the spirit of itself is
enlightened
view all things as the Void and this world is even more
still

(Red Pine HS 82)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

14
My resting place is in the deep woods now
but I was born a farmer
growing up simple and honest
speaking plainly without flattery
what nourished me wasn't studying for jade badges of
office
but believing that a man of virtue would then get the
pearl
how can we be like those floating beauties
wild ducks drifting on the waves as far as the eye can see

(Red Pine HS 102)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

15
Clouds and mountains all tangled together up to the
blue sky
a rough road and deep woods without any travellers
far away the lone moon a bright glistening white
nearby a flock of birds sobbing like children
one old man sitting alone perched in these green
mountains
a small shack the retired life letting my hair grow white
pleased with the years gone by happy with today
mindless this life is like water flowing east

(Red Pine HS 122)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

16
In my house there is a cave
in the cave there's nothing at all
pure emptiness really wonderful
glorious and splendid bright as the sun
vegetarian fare nourishes this old body
cotton and hides cover this illusory form
let a thousand saints appear before me
I have the Dharmakaya for my very own

(Red Pine HS 163)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

17
Despite the obstacles I pursued the great monk
the misty mountains a million layers high
he pointed to the road back home
one round moon lantern of the sky

(Red Pine HS 165)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

18
Ahead the green creek sparkles as it flows
toward the cliff a huge rock with a good edge for sitting
my heart is like a lone cloud with nothing to depend on
so far away from the world's affairs what need is there to
search for anything

(Red Pine HS 204)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

19
When this generation sees Han-shan
they all say I'm a crazy man
unworthy of a second look
this body wrapped only in cotton and hides
they don't understand what I say
I don't speak their kind of jabber
I want to tell all of you passing by
you can come up and face Cold Mountain

(Red Pine HS 218)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

20
Me I'm happy with the everyday way
like the mist and vines in these rockstrewn ravines
this wilderness is so free and vast
my old friends the white clouds drift idly off
there is a road but it doesn't reach the world
mindless who can be disturbed by thoughts
at night I sit alone on a stone bed
while the round moon climbs the face of Cold Mountain

(Red Pine HS 224)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

21
Amidst a thousand clouds and ten thousand streams
there lives one ex-scholar me
by day wandering these green mountains
at night coming home to sleep beneath a cliff
suddenly spring and fall have already passed by
and no dust has piled up to disturb this stillness
such happiness what do I depend on
here it's as tranquil as autumn river water

(Red Pine HS 279)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Han-Shan

22
I see people chanting a sutra
who depend on its words for their ability to speak
their mouths move but their hearts do not
their hearts and mouths oppose each other
yet the heart's true nature is without conflict
so don't get all tangled up in the words
learn to know your own bodily self
don't look for something else to take its place
then you'll become the boss of your mouth
knowing full well there's no inside or out

(Red Pine HS 286)

Shih-Te
translated by
James Sanford and J.P. Seaton

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

1
Since I came to this T'ien T'ai temple
how many Winters and Springs have passed
the mountains and the waters are unchanged
the man's grown older
how many other men will watch those mountains stand

(Red Pine ShT 1)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

2
see the moon's bright blaze of light
a shining lamp, above the world
full glistening and hanging in vast void
that brilliant jewel, its brightness, through the mist
some people say it waxes, wanes
their's may but mine remains
as steady as the Mani Pearl
this light knows neither day or night

(Red Pine ShT 4)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

3
sermons there are, must be a million
too many to read in a hurry
if you want a friend just come to T'ien T'ai mountain
sit deep among the crags
we'll talk about the Principles
and chat about dark Mysteries
if you don't come to my mountain
your view will be blocked
by the others

(Red Pine ShT 17)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

4
if you want to catch a rat
you don't need a fancy cat
it you want to learn the Principles
don't study fine bound books
the True Pearl's in a hemp sack
the Buddha nature rests in huts
many grasp the sack
but few open it.

(Red Pine ShT 24)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

5
I laugh at myself, old man, with no strength left
inclined to piney peaks, in love with lonely paths
oh well, I've wandered down the years to now
free in the flow; and floated home the same
a drifting boat.

(Red Pine ShT 27)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

6
not going, not coming
rooted, deep and still
not reaching out, not reaching in
just resting, at the center
a single jewel, the flawless crystal drop
in the blaze of its brilliance
the way beyond

(Red Pine ShT 31)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

7
a long way off, I see men in the dirt
enjoying whatever it is that they find in the dirt
when I look at them there in the dirt
my heart wells full of sadness
why sympathize with men like these?
I can remember the taste of that dirt.

(Red Pine ShT 38)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

8
cloudy mountains, fold on fold,
how many thousands of them?
shady valley road runs deep, all trace of man is gone
green torrents, pure clear flow, no place more full of
beauty
and time, and time, birds sing
my own heart's harmony.

(Red Pine ShT 40)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

9
if you want to be happy
there's no other way than the hermit's
flowers in the grove, endless brocade
every single season's colors new
just sit beside the chasm
turn your head, as the moon rolls by
yet though I ought to be at joyous ease
I can't stop thinking of the others.

(Red Pine ShT 42)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

10
far, far, the mountain path is steep
thousands of feet up, the pass is dangerous and narrow
on the stone bridge the moss and lichen green
from time to time, a sliver of cloud flying
cascades hang like skeins of silk
image of the moon from the deep pool shining
once more to the top of Flowering Peak
there waiting, still
the coming of the solitary crane

(Red Pine ShT 45)

The View from the Cold Mountain: Shih-Te

11
Idle, I visited the high monks
green mountain, white clouds
next door crying children
on the other side a boisterous crowd
the Five-Peaks touch the Milky Way
the cobalt sky is clear as water
true, they pointed my way home
pool of lamplight beneath the moon.