Night on the River
“Mooring on Chien-Te River”
The boat rocks at anchor by the misty island
Sunset, my loneliness comes again.
In these vast wilds the sky arches down to the trees.
In the clear river water, the moon draws near.
Meng Hao-Jen
Translation from the Chinese by Gary Snyder
Photograph kindly contributed to Zen Moments by Sam Cicero
“Meng Hao-jan (689–740 C.E.) is generally considered to be one of China’s most important poets. Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism was coming to maturity and becoming widely practiced among the intelligentsia of China. Ch’an not only clarified anew the spiritual ecology of early Taoist thought, it also emphasized the old Taoist idea that deep understanding lies beyond words. In poetry, this gave rise to a much more distilled language, especially in its concise imagism, which opened new inner depths, nonverbal insights, and outright enigma.
It was in the work of Meng Hao-jan that this poetic revolution began, a revolution that marked the beginning of Chinese poetry’s first great flowering. He opened the poetic ground that would be cultivated so productively by the great poets that followed, and he was revered by those poets as their esteemed elder, first master of the short imagistic landscape poem.” Amazon Book Reviews. More poems by Meng Hao-jan.
More about Gary Sneyder
Recommended from Zen Moments Bookstore:
National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography
By Tim Fitzharris
“Amazing Introductory Book to Landscape Photography” 
(Average customer review)
“..crammed with insightful tips on creating landscape pictures; written in a straightforward style with minimal jargon.” - Popular Photography
“A valuable reference… stunning photographs…” – Grand Magazine (Kitchener, ON)
“.. advice on such topics as field techniques, fine-art composition, and the best equipment to use is invaluable…. Recommended.” – Daniel Lombardo (formerly with Jones Lib., Amherst, MA Library Journal and LibraryJournal.com)
“A glowing tribute to the beauty of North America.” – Joy McDonnell, Editor-in-Chief Canadian Camera
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