The Blue Cliff Record is a collection of one hundred koans of words and deeds of the original Chinese Ch'an masters, the roots of the religion that would later become Zen in Japan. Each brief account or koan is followed by pages and pages of often abstruse commentary, delving into the most subtle meanings of these strange scenes of debate. Not reading Chinese or even being an official student of Zen, I have tried another way of reading these moments of spiritual doubt, challenge, and resolution - I have translated them into poetry, more an interpretation than any exact replica of the original. I am after a depiction of the human contact with nature not as poignantly ambiguous as the koan itself, not as explanatory as philosphy usually tries to be. It's somewhere in between.
Snow conceals the white petals, still the flowers are there.
Case 16 Adrift in the Weeds Peace awaits through the forest of thorns. There is one hand uplifting and one pressing down. I will break out, ask the Master to break in. Walking the country, each step you break in and break out. Traveling through time, marking manifold paths.