Ikkyu Says...

[poliphilo]

Ikkyu Says

I was feeling  low.
And all I'd got to hide in
Was this old coat.

I had a  plate and a spoon
But I left them in the temple.
They weighed too much.

Shut up about Zen:
It's such a bore.
If there's one thing I hate
It's the smell of incense.

Religion is for grown-ups.
Give me rain on the river,
The moon among clouds,
A fisherman singing,

Me and a girl in a hot bath

Or my daughter dancing.

People are so greedy.
I lost my ink stick once
And It nearly killed me.

I'm not going anywhere 
So I'm never lost.
If you want me
Try the pub or the knocking shop.

If I forget the Lady Mori
Let me burn in hell.

She raised the sap
In these old sticks
And my monks were happy.
Ah well,
My hand looks much like hers.

I dreamed my poems
Would live for ever.
Such a pity
There's no-one to read them. 

Ikkyu, medieval Zen master and poet- the Japanese Villon. These are some bits and pieces I found online, put into my own words, and strung together.

Comments

[sovay]

Ikkyo, medieval Zen master and poet- the Japanese Villon. These are some bits and pieces I found online, put into my own words, and strung together.

I like it.

[poliphilo]

I love Zen. It's dryness, its absurdism.

[cmcmck]

Did he meet Villon's fate?

[poliphilo]

No, he lived to a grand old age. He was an avowed libertine and rogue, but also a revered holy man- a combination that's barely conceivable within the Christian tradition.