Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The 108 Zen Poems
    The 108 Zen Poems
    The 108 Zen Poems
    Ebook160 pages1 hour

    The 108 Zen Poems

    By Alexander Goldstein

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    As a sinologist, I have been asked many questions by people wanting to know time and again what Zen ('Chan' in Chinese) actually is. The problem is that it is not an easy task to describe this term. It is something that cannot be talked about nor expressed in written words. The moment language is used, we are no longer dealing with the true spirit of Zen, which is beyond all words. However, Zen cannot be left unexpressed. To introduce the reader to the world of Zen, there is no alternative but to resort to the use of language, the best alternative of which is poetry - the most 'precise' form of speech. This is one of the reasons why this ebook is comprised of 108 examples of the Zen way of realization to be submitted for the reader's consideration.
    So, what is Zen? This question can be answered in a number of pathways, with each definition being correct within the context of each particular explanation. The word derives from the Sanskrit term "dhyana" to be better known to the West by the Japanese pronunciation, rather than Chinese 'Chan'; it is translated as "a quiet contemplation." (The graph 'meditation' consists of two main parts: one is for 'praying' represented by the heavenly number 3 and the earthly 2 placed vertically and horizontally; another is for 'a twofold unit' or 'an individual with a dual-tracking nature' or 'a bullet' which moves back and forth along the ruts and channels of Heaven-and-Earth.)
    However, Zen has almost nothing to do with the practice of meditation (literally, the sitting meditation termed 'za-zen'). As is stated above, it is rather difficult to describe what Zen is by the aid of words. Some people say that it is mysterious experience, the realm of mystery, or simply mysticism. In fact, if Zen is mysterious experience, it means that it can be treated as 'the direct realization of original nature of the self.' If it is the realm of mystery, it is 'the substance of the true emptiness.' If it is mysticism, it is 'the cornerstone of all doctrines and teachings,' the source of all ideas, the philosophers' stone itself. To define what Zen is by going this way is quite an admissible acting, on paper, but it is absolutely inadequate as a means of transmitting the truth. In fact, Zen is not the experience, nor the realm, less still the "-ism" of a sort. Zen is only Zen, neither more nor less. For this reason, any attachment to Zen, regardless of how a dedicated or an expert the attachment might be, is still only ever attachment to shadows. Being "exact" in enlightened function is not the same as being "precise" through attachment to dress, terminology, a public ritual and a personal progression. Those attached to Zen carry with them the stench of Dharma (principle) contradiction and mistake the ideal world for the actual. Like a vicious whirlpool -- such people drag everyone into their orbit through impressing others with their certificates and experiences of 'gurus.' However, no matter how many times they have visited China or Japan and sat in a temple, as long as they have not realised the empty mind ground, they are simply placing a head upon head and mistaking the shadow it casts as real light.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlexander Goldstein
    Release dateDec 23, 2015
    ISBN9781311064196
    The 108 Zen Poems
    Author

    Alexander Goldstein

    Alexander Goldstein, a graduate of the Far-Eastern University in Sinology, lived and worked in mainland China for a period as a translator/interpreter, a manager, and a martial arts' practitioner. A certified instructor of ‘Chang-quan’ (external-style boxing) and ‘Taiji-quan’ (internal-style boxing), he is a lecturer of Chinese culture and traditions at the Open University in Tel-Aviv. He also is the author of Lao-zi's "Dao-De Jing," Chan (Zen) masters' paradoxes, "The Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taiji-quan," a Chinese novel and some other editions, which are available in print and electronic publishing at most online retailers published in English, Spanish and Russian. What makes his books so appealing is profound analysis and authority with which various strains of the vigorous Chinese culture are woven into a clear and useful piece of guidance for a business person who conducts the affairs with far-eastern counterparties and for a counsellor who develops strategies that enable leaders to position their organisations effectively.

    Read more from Alexander Goldstein

    Related to The 108 Zen Poems

    Related ebooks

    Poetry For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Steadfast In The Midst Of Samsara

      Feb 11, 2020

      Steadfast In The Midst Of Samsara
      11 min read

    • Article

      Book Briefs

      May 8, 2018

      Without tsewa, is there any other source of happiness?” This is the question posed by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche in TRAINING IN TENDERNESS (Shambhala 2018). Always circling back to this Tibetan word meaning love, tenderness, or warmth, Kongtrul pushes

      4 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      May 21, 2019

      Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times By Stephanie Kaza Shambhala Publications 2019; 264 pp., $18.95 (paper) Stephanie Kaza, professor emerita of environmental studies, likes to say that she first took the path of Green Buddhism when,

      5 min read

    • Article

      What’s Daoism Got to Do with It?

      Nov 3, 2020

      What’s Daoism Got to Do with It?
      6 min read

    • Article

      21st Century Samsara

      Jan 19, 2021

      21st Century Samsara
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Journey to Where We Already Are

      Mar 7, 2023

      The Journey to Where We Already Are
      10 min read

    • Article

      Beginner’s Mind

      Jan 22, 2019

      THE BRAHMAVIHARAS are four prized emotions or mindstates that give us a framework to cultivate positive behaviors and minimize harmful ones. They are called the “divine abodes” because they are the mindstates in which all the enlightened ones reside.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Path Of Fierce Questioning

      Nov 17, 2020

      Path Of Fierce Questioning
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Opposite of Grasping Is Intimacy

      Aug 4, 2020

      The Opposite of Grasping Is Intimacy
      9 min read

    • Article

      Just Get Out of Your Own Way

      Sep 18, 2018

      If your mind is straightforward, without deviousness, then what difficulty is there to Buddhism? It is just because students do not rely on the straightforward mind that they erroneously produce judgments. This is why there are so many obstacles. —TO

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Three Minds of Zen

      Mar 2, 2021

      The Three Minds of Zen
      8 min read

    • Article

      Medicine For Our Times

      Nov 30, 2021

      Medicine For Our Times
      6 min read

    • Article

      How To Master The Art Of Moderation After Lockdown According To A Taoist Master

      May 4, 2021

      I remember the first time I heard the word “stress”, I was six years old and playing hide and seek. Wrapped like a burrito in the folds of the living-room curtains I tried not to breathe as I spied on my mum and her friend talking conspiratorially ab

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Ultimate Self-Help

      Jul 23, 2019

      HERE IS A HERESY: Buddhism is not only self-help, it’s the ultimate self-help. Many people would consider this a heresy because it appears to violate one of Buddhism’s central principles—nonself. If there’s no self, how can there be self-help? But no

      2 min read

    • Article

      To See Yourself Exactly As You Are

      Jul 20, 2021

      You can’t make radical changes in the pattern of your life until you begin to see yourself exactly as you are now. As soon as you do that, changes will flow naturally. You don’t have to force anything, struggle, or obey rules dictated to you by some

      3 min read

    • Article

      Reducing Dharma to Exotic Art

      May 7, 2019

      Reducing Dharma to Exotic Art
      7 min read

    • Article

      Shin Buddhism Is American Buddhism

      Nov 6, 2018

      Shin Buddhism Is American Buddhism
      8 min read

    • Article

      Dreaming Ourselves into Existence

      Aug 7, 2018

      Dreaming Ourselves into Existence
      6 min read

    • Article

      Queering Shinran

      Nov 21, 2023

      Queering Shinran
      4 min read

    • Article

      Why I Do Not Bow

      Jul 20, 2021

      Why I Do Not Bow
      3 min read

    • Article

      Dakini Energy

      Mar 21, 2023

      Dakini Energy
      7 min read

    • Article

      I Vow Not to Burn Out

      Sep 27, 2022

      I Vow Not to Burn Out
      4 min read

    • Article

      Find The Wisdom In Paradox

      Jul 21, 2020

      Sit with the paradox—this fundamental teaching from my Rinzai Zen training guides me in these coronavirus times. In our Zen tradition, students are asked to work with paradoxical stories, dialogues, or questions called koans. As an example, here is a

      2 min read

    • Article

      Buddhadharma On Books

      Jun 13, 2023

      FOR THE ANALYTICALLY minded who appreciate a systematic presentation of ideas, the Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics series (Wisdom), conceived by the Dalai Lama, compiled by a team of monastic scholars, and edited by Thupten Jin

      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Briefs

      Jun 28, 2022

      AS A STUDENT and teacher of Zen, Joan Sutherland has spent her entire adult life with koans. That she has “loved and struggled” with koans for so long is evident in her lush and evocative Through Forests of Every Color: Awakening with Koans (Shambhal

      4 min read

    • Article

      Joyful Wandering

      Jan 18, 2022

      Joyful Wandering
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Heart Of A Buddha

      Nov 21, 2023

      UNSHAKEABLE: Trauma-Informed Mindfulness for Collective Awakening (Parallax) is a guide to cultivating stability of mind and resiliency. Author Jo-Ann Rosen is a mindfulness teacher and psychotherapist who worked for thirty years in marginalized comm

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The 108 Zen Poems

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The 108 Zen Poems - Alexander Goldstein

      The 108 Zen Poems

      Published by Alexander Goldstein

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2015 Alexander Goldstein

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      * * * * *

      Contents

      Author's Note

      A Human Voice

      Just Like That

      Keep Going

      Kung-fu

      Keeping Tigers

      Life in Mid Air

      Life of Fire

      Living Schedule

      Lonesome Heron

      Long Live Antiquity

      Luxury of Life

      Mastery

      Memento Mori

      Metamorphosis

      Money Talks, A Good Story Walks

      Mundane Recycling

      My One But Only Housecoat

      My Pear Trees

      My Talisman Protects Me

      Nearer the Wall Street

      Never Come Back?

      No Use

      Nouveau riche

      On High

      On the Eve of Mid-Autumn Feast

      On the Werewolf Mountain

      Our Hometowns

      Over Age

      Perfection of Life

      Peril of Knowledge

      Platonic Love

      Playing Bowls

      Poetry’s Wake-up Power

      Power of Insight

      Pure Mind

      Questions

      Quiet Parting

      Reading Aloud

      Recreation

      Red Sash

      Refinement

      Relativity

      Reminiscences

      Remuneration

      Retirement

      Retirement to Wilderness

      Richman, Poor man, Beggar man, . . Not Thief

      Riding the Storm

      Rock Bottom

      Rock Steady

      Rock Steady Field

      Roundabout

      Sands

      Scholarship from Within

      Secluded Spot of My Soul

      Self-allegiance

      Self-gratification

      Serenity

      Shade of Shadow

      Showing off

      Simplicity

      Snowy Mood

      Soothed Energy

      Spring Blossom

      Still in Retreat

      Superpower

      Talking About Food

      The Autumn Gold

      The Autumn Sonata (I)

      The Autumn Sonata (II)

      The Blue Transition

      The Charm of Early Autumn

      The Colour of Milk

      The Country

      The Elements

      The Essence of Uncanny

      The Final Total

      The Four Capital I of Imagine

      The Great Conqueror

      The Household

      The Oriental and Occidental

      The Phases

      The Pivot

      The Pure Skies

      The Transcendental

      The Yearly Circle-Stances

      They Don't Know My Name

      Time's Short

      To the Last Gasp

      Tonight

      Top Priority

      Total Emptiness

      Two Banks of One Stream

      Two Continents

      Two Options Only

      Ultimate Vision

      Ups and Downs

      Utility of Uselessness

      Vehicles of Ages

      Vexation

      Vigil

      Watch Your Back!

      We All Are Ferrymen on Our Own

      Without a Name

      What I Don’t Do

      Worldly Disorder

      Worm of Conscience

      Which Side is Truly Mine

      WWW or the Way to Win the World

      About the Author

      Endnote

      Author’s Note

      The number 108 is often considered as sacredly special figure because of its place in some religious ceremonials and mythological traditions, connecting to the martial arts, yoga and dharma based practices. In Hinduism, for example, there are 108 names of deities and 108 beads on the mala, a prayer bead chain similar to a rosary used for 108 repetitions of a mantra. Tibetan Buddhist rosaries are also 108 beads, reflecting the words of the Buddha called in Tibetan 'kangyur' -- the 108 volumes of collected and translated works spoken by Lord Buddha himself. Likewise, Zen monks wear 'juzu' (a ring of prayer beads) around their wrists, which consists of 108 beads. The 12 Prolific Poet Saints called 'Alwars' of the Sri Vaishnavites wrote devotional poetry about the 108 abodes of Lord Vishnu, which was later compiled by Nathamuni as the Divya Prabhandams, the sacred texts in the philosophy of Hinduism.

      The famously known bas-relief carving at the Angkor Wat Temple in Cambodia relates the Hindu story of a serpent being pulled back and forth by 108 gods and demons: the 54 gods pulling one way, and 54 demons pulling the other, to churn the ocean of milk in order to produce the elixir of immortality. According to the Oriental Architecture, there are five monumental guardian gates to the fortified temple city of Angkor Thom; in front of each gate stand giant statues of 54 gods (to the left of the causeway) and 54 demons (to the right of the causeway) which represent the churning of the ocean.

      In some schools of Buddhism it is believed that there are 108 feelings. This number, most probably, is reached by multiplying the senses of smell, touch, taste, hearing, sight and consciousness by whether they are painful, pleasant or neutral (3); and then again, by whether they are internally generated or externally occurring (2); and yet again by the past, present and future (3); finally, we get 108 feelings (6×3×2×3=108). In Japan, at the end of the year, a bell is chimed 108 times in Buddhist temples to finish the old year and welcome the new one. Each ring represents one of the 108 earthly temptations (Bonnō) which a person must overcome to achieve a true freedom designated as the state of 'nirvana.'

      In Judaism, It is customary to give people gifts and charitable donations in multiples of the number 18, associated with the Hebrew word 'hai' (חי), meaning 'alive,' 'living' and 'life.' The number 108 both is multiple of 18 (6 times 18) and contains the numbers 1 and 8 that compose the number 18, which is the numerological 9 (1+8).

      In the neo-Gnostic teachings of Samael Aun Weor, an individual has 108 chances (lifetimes) to eliminate his ego and transcend the material world before 'devolving' and having the ego forcefully removed in the infra-dimensions.

      In mathematics, the prime factorization of 108 is 2•2•3•3•3 and its proper divisors are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 27, 36, and 54, all numbers with interesting properties and that appear frequently in the ancient wisdom and cultural traditions. When the sum of a number's proper factors is greater than the number itself, the number is said to be abundant; and 108 is an abundant number. It turns out that 108 is the hyperfactorial of 3 since (3^3)(2^2)(1^1)=108. The number 3 is considered in all cultures as a number that expresses itself in a synthetic way of the complex dynamic organization of the universe at an essential level. It

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1