Too Lazy To Be Ambitious Poem by Taigu Ryokan
Too Lazy To Be Ambitious
Too lazy to be ambitious,
I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days' worth of rice in my bag;
a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.
Ryōkan composed many waka in a naïve style, intentionally avoiding complex rules and the traditional way of waka. As a Sōtō Zen Buddhist monk, he used waka also for expressing his religious feeling.
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4/24/2024 7:12:45 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Sōtō Zen, or the Sōtō school (曹洞宗 Sōtō-shū) , is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku) . It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang Dynasty,618–907. It emphasizes Shikantaza - meditation with no objects, anchors, or content. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference. [Wikipedia]