Alankar(Decor) -200 Poem by Indira Renganathan

Zen Poems


Zen came from India to China in the 6th century and on to Japan in the 8th century.

Zen Chinese monks were the first to write poetry as an extension of their meditation. Therefore the earliest Zen poems were written in the Chinese style of the time, quatrains with lines of equal length, often the lines parallel each other. The first Japanese disciples studying in China continued the tradition of Chinese style writing and brought it home to the Japanese monasteries.

Urban monasteries in Kyoto and other populous areas known as The Five Mountain temples became centers for learning, promoting Chinese poetry, painting and calligraphy. The role of the Five Mountain Zen temples, introducing Chinese arts into medieval Japan, helped create a permanent bridge between Zen and medieval forms of artistic expression.

About the same time, another branch of Zen practiced in the Rinka (forest) monasteries which had sprouted up in the Japanese countryside and was populated by less educated monks who also made their mark without the Chinese influence. Poetry from the Rinka temples was influenced more by the rural setting of the Japanese countryside.
Over time, Zen poetry has evolved, there is no common form for Zen poetry, it can be written in any style, any language.
What appears, what is now, what is clear, is written with an economy of words and shared as 'Zen Poetry'.
Zen poetry requires the poet to be aware and in the moment, connected to all that surrounds himon the journey to enlightenment.



1 Living In The Present

Life told the meditator
'I lived yesterday and died
I live today and will die
Tomorrow I don't know
I will be there or not
If I'm there, I know
I'll live and die then also
Live and die is my motto'

'But morally' said the meditator


2Escapade

A big river with crocodiles
A small brook with peace
Sandwiched a cute village


3Mystery

Ocean can reflectsky
But notsky can
Mirror can reflect man
But not man can
Your eyes can reflectme
But not yourself
Alone He can Himself reflect
From in and out of all


4 Trend

He is picking the ripe grapes
Leaving the sour lot
Fox by his side says
'Pick the sour grapes too
Can make pickles'