If you are looking for a place to rest,
Cold Mountain is a good place to stay.
The breeze flowing through the dark pines
Sounds better the closer you come.
And under the trees a white-haired man
Mumbles over his Taoist texts.
Ten years now he hasn’t gone home;
He has even forgotten the road he came by.
High on the mountain’s peak
Infinity in all directions!
The solitary moon looks down
From its midnight loft
Admires its reflection in the icy pond.
Shivering, I serenade the moon.
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 filled 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?
Han Shan The Cold Mountain Poems
In the bustling world happiness is hard to come by – such strong stimulation is needed.
In the quiet world a leaf falling, a shadowy street, a word from a friend – fills us to the brim.
The name “Han Shan” means Cold Mountain. The “rocks and bark” poet and mountain are one.
The same is true for us.
Who can break the snares of the world and the past and sit among the white clouds?
Lets go now.
Recent Comments