Quoted By:
Towering cliffs were the home I chose
bird trails beyond human tracks
what does my yard contain
white clouds clinging to dark rocks
every year I've lived here
I've seen the seasons change
all you owners of tripods and bells
what good are empty names
All you who read my poems
guard your purity of heart
let your greed be modesty
your flattery be honesty
put an end to evil karma
trust your own true nature
find your buddha body today
do it as fast as an order
The Cold Mountain Road is strange
no tracks of cart or horse
hard to recall which merging stream
or tell which piled-up ridge
a myriad plants weep with dew
the pines all sigh the same
here where the trail disappears
form asks shadow where to
People ask the way to Cold Mountain
but roads don't reach Cold Mountain
in summer the ice doesn't melt
and the morning fog is too dense
how did someone like me arrive
our minds are not the same
if they were the same
you would be here
Inside Jade Hall is a curtain of pearls
behind it lives a graceful girl
her beauty transcends the immortals
her skin is like that of a peach
spring mists rise in the east
autumn winds stir in the west
thirty years from now
she'll look like chewed sugarcane
Since I came to Cold Mountain
how many thousand years have passed
accepting my fate I fled to the woods
to dwell and gaze in freedom
no one visits the cliffs
forever hidden by clouds
soft grass serves as a mattress
my quilt is the dark blue sky
a boulder makes a fine pillow
Heaven and Earth can crumble and change
Pole your three winged galleons
ride your thousand-mile stallions
you still won't reach my home
it's called the darkest wild
my cave is on a distant ridge
clouds and thunder last all day
I'm not Master Confucius
I have nothing to convey
