Chinese Zen poetry by Hanshan  
 
   Musical Reflections inspired by the following 6 poems...   

 

1. Road to Cold Mountain  
(sample) 

 I climb the road to Cold Mountain, 
 The road to Cold Mountain that never ends.  
 The Valleys are long and strewn with stones;  
 The streams broad and banked with thick grass. 
 Moss is slippery, though no rain has fallen; 
 Pines sigh, but it isn't the wind. 
 Who can break from the snares of the world 
 And sit with me among the white clouds? 

 
 2. Above the Blossoms 
(sample) 

 Above the blossoms sing the orioles; 
 Kuan kuan, their clear notes. 
 The girl with a face like jade  
 Strums to them on her lute. 
 Never does she tire of playing - 
 Youth is the time for tender thoughts. 
 When the flowers scatter and the birds fly off 
 Her tears will fall in the spring wind. 

 
 3. Weird Sights

Cold Mountain is full of weird sights;
People who try to climb it always get scared.
When the moon shines, the water glints and sparkles;
When the wind blows, the grasses rustle and sigh.
Snowflakes make blossoms for the bare plum,
Clouds in place of leaves for the naked trees.
At a touch of rain, the whole mountain shimmers -
But only in good weather can you make the climb.

4. A Thousand Clouds

Among a thousand clouds and 10,000 streams,
Here lives an idle man,
In the daytime wandering over green mountains,
At night coming home to sleep by the cliff.
Swiftly the springs and autumns pass,
But my mind is at peace, free from dust or delusion.
How pleasant, to know I need nothing to lean on,
To be still as the waters of the autumn river!

5. In a Dream

Last night in a dream I returned to my old home
And saw my wife weaving at her loom.
She held her shuttle poised, as though lost in thought,
As though she had no strength to lift it further.
I called.  She turned her head to look,
But her eyes were blank - she didn't know me.
So many years we've been parted
The hair at my temples has lost its old color.

6. Cold Cliffs 
 

Cold cliffs, more beautiful the deeper you enter ... 
Yet no one travels this road. 
White clouds idle about the tall crags;  
On the green peak a single monkey wails. 
What other companions do I need? 
I grow old doing as I please. 
Though face and form alter with the years, 
I hold fast to the pearl of the mind. 

  



    

 Near Pine Mountain - Gorman, CA

 


Ghostly Trees, Grapevine, CA

 


 Pyramid Lake - Gorman, CA

 

 

I recommend the following translation:

Hanshan: 100 Poems by the Tang Poet Hanshan  
English Translation by Burton Watson, 
Columbia University Press, 1970.   

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