Volume 1, Track 5
Much Chinese poetry speaks of the tranquility of Nature, just as Chinese landscape painting emphasizes natural scenes in contrast to struggling man. In truth, it is difficult to find a displeasing aspect in nature — if one looks with a quiet mind, not concerned with its own problems.
When the mind is transparent and pure, as if reflected on the mirror-like surface of the water, there is nothing in the world that you would dislike. When it is serene, as the light breeze and the sunshine, there will be no one whom you would like to forget. Seen this way, Nature delights us, but it is hard to describe.
“I gather at chrysanthemums, at the eastern hedgerow,” writes the poet, “and silently gaze at the southern mountains. The mountain air is beautiful in the sunset and the birds flocking together, return home. Among all these things is a real meaning. Yet when I try to express it, I become lost in new no words.”
An entirely different and perhaps more human viewpoint is expressed by two other poets. One says, “In front of my bed, the moonlight shone. For a moment, I took it to be frost on the floor. When I lifted my head, I saw it was the moon. When I bent my head, I dreamed of my far away home.”
The other adds, “When a friend starts a journey of many miles, as he is about to leave, he delays again and again. When men part, they feel they may never meet again. When a year has gone, how will you ever find it again? I wonder where it has gone, this year that has ended, certainly, some place far beyond the horizon. It is gone like a river which flows to the East and empties into the sea without hope of return. My neighbors on the left are heating wine. On the right, they are roasting a fat pig. They will have one day of joy as recompense for a whole year of trouble. We leave each bygone year without regret. Will we leave so carelessly the years to come? Everything passes, everything goes and never looks back, and we grow older and more feeble as the days go by.”
To listen to Justin reading Spiritual Stories of the East, click here.