Tuesday Poetry: “To what shall I liken the world?” by Dōgen

To what shall
I liken the world?
Moonlight, reflected
in dewdrops,
shaken from a crane’s bill.

Dōgen, 1200 – 1253

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According to Wikipedia, Dōgen was a Japanese Buddhist priest, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of both Eihei-ji monastery and the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.

I first learned of Dōgen and Eihei-ji in Peter Matthiessen’s book Nine-Headed Dragon River which led me to visit the temple, located in a mountainous region of western Honshu, when I visited Japan.

The poem is among...