​​FOR NIRVANA 
108 ZEN SIJO POEMS 

CHO OH-HYUN
  

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introductory by KWON YOUNGMIN

translated by HEINZ INSU FENKLE 

Associate professor of English and Asian studies at SUNY New Paltz.

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31

WAKING IN PLACE

villagers toward the sunrise

monks toward the sunset-

life or death, they keep walking

one lifetime

barely as mush as a single step

go on, go on

just walking in place

32

THE PATH OF LOVE

Even love has conditions to meet:

to love legitimately, one needs

To erect a stone span

at the neck of the shimmering shallows

And, of course, a trysting place, to

which this monk and that monk may come

33

AT THE RAZOR¡¯S EDGE

You bastards who think you¡¯re monks,

consider this: To be a monk

You must die-several times at least-

at the razor¡¯s edge

And the nails of your fingers and toes, your eyebrows,

all must wither and fall out.

34

CRIME & PUNISHMENT

That date tree, struck by lightning,

at the levee by the temple fields

How great was its load of sin-

it is I who should have been struck

And with thoughts like this, yet again,

I let the whole day pass

35

TODAY¡¯S BEAMING

The harvest moon rises, and the calms, with bated breath,

float surfaceward-and open wide their mouths to receive

the moon¡¯s beams, revealing all their innermost flesh.

36

THE WAY TO GYERIMSA TEMPLE

I stagger, single-minded, on the 40-li high path to Gyerimsa,

The black cuckoo of Mr. Chorok soaking in my collar,

Beads of sweat on forehead, white clouds gleaming.

Mountain follows stream and water flows from mountain;

Time means nothing in the landscape of the temple,

One¡¯s heart emerges, worldless, exposed-and yet

With these dyed robes weighing heavy on my shoulders

And 108 prayer beads hanging eyeless, tight, around my neck,

Why is the way so dark as I stand in the bright light of day?

In some deep valley, a solitary wildflower blooms with a smile,

And the wind from the great forest comes to drowse in these pine

woods

Today, bowing low to the green mountains, at this site, I arrive.

37

THE WAY FORWARD

Jikjisa Temple Travel Diary 1

water streams down

the path winds upward

I sit with my feet in water

white cloud resting on a slab of stone

my mind in the wide valley

where the cuckoo cries

38

NOT TWO GATES

Jikjisa Temple Travel Diary 2

over mountain, over waves

barely nightfall-down-both sund and moon

my sole desire, to abide-

even that¡¯s all burnt away

the wind leaves a long aftertaste

my heart opens

39

SITTING BUDDHA

Jikjisa Temple Travel Diary 3

how heavy is it

the mind seated in its seat?

even if there is no word for why,

lighting the long lamps-sun and moon

watching over each spine of these green hills,

buddha-head flowers illuminating the dream

40

BLUE CRANE-ZEN MASTER YEONGHER

Jikjisa Temple Travel Diary 4

a century of longing behind you,

you left for Yellow Mountain

when you were lonely-the rim of dawn

when you were happy-the moonlight sky

over heaven¡¯s vast expanse

do you follow the cosmic law

41

STONE LAMP

Jikjisa Temple Travel Diary 5

cold stone, warm hand

gather wants, light a lamp

breath burns in the dark

the pine breeze falls asleep

and myself, alone, an owl

crying all night on this vast mountain

42

COLD LAMP-MASTER WHITE WATER

Jikjisa Temple Travel Diary 6

the Yellow Mountain stretch out

immersed in the distance beyond the sky

winds through the scattered reeds

empty wild field in Geumneung

moon rising, 90,000 li night

a cold lamp, burning

43

MIND MOON

Jikjisa Temple Travel Diary 7

storey after storey, the highest peaks

above the lighted lotus lamps

standing once again on tiptoe

the mind moon rises deep into the heart

even the darkness makes way

as I walk in the center of this night

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