March 14 2025 - Zen Talking, Zen Poetry: A Verse for Prajnatara

#Post(s) in Question

Post: https://old.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/1jabfde/a_verse_for_prajnatara/

Link to episode:  

Link to all episodes: https://sites.libsyn.com/407831

# What did we talk about?

It took us an hour and change to get here:

A cloud rhino gazes at the crescent moon1, its light engulfing radiance;
A wood horse2 romps in spring, swift and unbridled.
Under [Bodhidharma's] eyebrows, a pair of cold blue eyes;
How can reading scriptures reach the piercing of [Shitou Xiqian's] oxhide3?
The clear mind produces vast aeons,
Heroic power smashes the armies on both sides4.
In the subtle round mouth of [Bodhidharma's Emptiness5] the pivot turns the spiritual works.
Hanshan forgot the road6 by which he came [to so-and-so's Zen commune at XYZ]—
Shide led him back [to his birth place] by the hand.

1. an ancient song that says that the rhino grew his horn while gazing at the moon. In this case its praising Prajnatara saying that she doesn't dwell in conditioned perception. Awareness is a mirror of reality, like the rhino mirrored the moon.
2. wooden horse, stone man, buddha statue
3. The piercing of oxhide line is also a reference to some Zen Master Shitou maybe getting asked why he reads the sutras when he forbids them and him saying something like he understand their meaning while for others it is like putting a piece of oxhide in front of their eyes
4. Wansong explains being surrounded on both sides by armies in his discussion
5. What is the highest holy truth?  Emptiness with nothing holy therein.
6. Hanshan's poem, quoted by Wansong: 

If you want a place to rest your body, Cold Mountain is good

for long preservation. A subtle breeze blows in the dense pines;

Heard from close by, the sound is even finer, 

Underneath the trees is a greying man, 

Furiously reading Taoist books. 

Ten years I couldn't return--

Now I've forgotten the road whence I came.

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