Musō Soseki (1275–1351), born ten years after Dante, became the most famous Zen monk of his time. He advised and taught several emperors, as well as more than thirteen thousand students. In his old age, Musō withdrew from court to devote himself to Buddha and to cultivate the Zen gardens for which he is remembered. At his death, he left behind an enormous body of poetry and prose. In honor of his profound influence on Japanese culture, he was renamed Musō Kokushi, “national Zen teacher,” by Emperor Go-Daigo.

Snow Valley

By Musō Soseki, translated by
W. S. Merwin and Sōiku Shigematsu

Each drifting snowflake
             falls nowhere
                          but here and now
Under the settling flowers of ice
             the water is flowing
                          bright and clear
The cold stream
             splashes out
                          the Buddha’s words
Startling
             the stone tortoise
                          from its sleep

From Sun at Midnight: Poems and Letters (Copper Canyon Press, 2013).


Read on . . .

“All on My Own I’m Happy,” a poem by Musō Soseki