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Sun at Midnight: Poems and Sermons
Poems by the fourteenth century Zen Master deal with nature, wandering, wealth and poverty, solitude, friendship, and mortality
175 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Musō Soseki
8 books6 followersMusō Soseki (夢窓 疎石, 1275 – October 20, 1351) was a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk and teacher, and a calligraphist, poet and garden designer. The most famous monk of his time, he is also known as Musō Kokushi (夢窓国師?) ("national Zen teacher"), a honorific conferred to him by Emperor Go-Daigo. His mother was the daughter of Hōjō Masamura (1264-1268), seventh Shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate.
(from Wikipedia)
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 6, 2016
Muso Soseki was a Zen monk of the thirteenth century who also became famous as a garden designer. On of the last pieces in the book is on the unity of nature (mountains and rivers, real or imitated in a garden) and the Way.
Reproducing the work will be difficult because Goodreads refuses to read spaces at the beginning of a paragraph (line). Soiku Shigematsu, the informant for this translation, insisted that a three line stanza format better conveyed the chanting of the four line original, so imagine the second line indented a little and the third line indented a little more.
Two of the poems I liked the most:
People’s Abuse
People’s abuse
has melted what was golden
and it has gone from the world.
Fortune and misfortune
both belong to the land
of dreams.
Don’t look back
to this world
your old hole in the cellar
From the beginning
the flying birds have left
no footprints in the blue sky.
and
Withered Zen
Both sacred wisdom
and ordinary feeling
have completely fallen away
no craving
for success and fame
rises in my mind
Don’t tell me that I’ve fallen
into the cave
on Stone Frost Mountain
Inside my heart
I keep three thousand
prancing chestnut horses
Reproducing the work will be difficult because Goodreads refuses to read spaces at the beginning of a paragraph (line). Soiku Shigematsu, the informant for this translation, insisted that a three line stanza format better conveyed the chanting of the four line original, so imagine the second line indented a little and the third line indented a little more.
Two of the poems I liked the most:
People’s Abuse
People’s abuse
has melted what was golden
and it has gone from the world.
Fortune and misfortune
both belong to the land
of dreams.
Don’t look back
to this world
your old hole in the cellar
From the beginning
the flying birds have left
no footprints in the blue sky.
and
Withered Zen
Both sacred wisdom
and ordinary feeling
have completely fallen away
no craving
for success and fame
rises in my mind
Don’t tell me that I’ve fallen
into the cave
on Stone Frost Mountain
Inside my heart
I keep three thousand
prancing chestnut horses
September 19, 2020
Reading Soseki's work has been a respite in a time of utter chaos and dire catastrophe.
I can't thank this work enough.
I can't thank this work enough.
October 22, 2012
In the world outside of things
there is nothing
to get in the way
there is nothing
to get in the way
June 10, 2024
Enjoyed this short book — like a breath of fresh, cool, warm air. Reminds me of a time when we are still able to take deeper breaths, staring long at the scenery without any urgency. I felt lighter and calmer after I read this. I have not experienced meditating before but I think this is how it would feel like. I think I'll keep this book nearby as an immediate anxiety reliever 💚.
Also, a bit of poor comparison, but reading the last few pages, (the one with the sermons), remind me a bit of the conversation between Dr. Strange and the Ancient One.
Also, a bit of poor comparison, but reading the last few pages, (the one with the sermons), remind me a bit of the conversation between Dr. Strange and the Ancient One.
August 11, 2017
Soseki's verses shine bright and clear through the centuries. Thanks to Merwin's deft translations, these lines from medieval Japan sing anew in English. This is a book to read and re-read.
August 21, 2018
There are a lot of good poems but I can't remember any great poem here.
I love Merwin as a translator but this was not his best collection.
I love Merwin as a translator but this was not his best collection.
October 17, 2018
A must-read for any Zen Practitioner.
March 20, 2015
The poems on the power of silence, stillness, on growing old, and on the wonders of being alone, they all resonated with me. Maybe it's just now, being a parent, just me, for any number of reasons -- these poems really spoke to me. I don't even have a critique, outside of some poems were better then others, as if that means something -- All I have is that some of these very much echoed my own thoughts, and I'm half a world a way and 850 years forward.
I'm also a huge believer in letting go and in uncaring. And that's not in the negative, it's in the scope of a world that you have little control of in the big picture, and you can only control yourself and your own actions, and that you have no real power, day to day, over what other people do, or have done. It's a weak attempt at me summing up a way of living, and a belief system here, but my point is that I sometimes look into Buddhism as the 'closest thing' to how I think myself.
The problem tends to be that it's a religion, bloated with all the ridiculousness that religions often get pegged with. Soseki's poetry and sermons reflect very closely what feel to be a truth of life. In Sermon, where the monk asks him about attaining 'Buddahood' and the Master (who I think we must assume is Soseki) answers, basically, 'that even wanting to attain Buddahood, is a desire that can keep you from buddahood' and I thought, yes, there is finally some consistency, that is logic.
The entirety of this volume says to me, the goal of life is the freedom life provides. True freedom comes from realizing your own thoughts, realizing who you are, the Greek truth, "Know thyself." And so, I'm so affected by this because I see in the writing something universally true, something that transcends culture, time, and space.
I'm also a huge believer in letting go and in uncaring. And that's not in the negative, it's in the scope of a world that you have little control of in the big picture, and you can only control yourself and your own actions, and that you have no real power, day to day, over what other people do, or have done. It's a weak attempt at me summing up a way of living, and a belief system here, but my point is that I sometimes look into Buddhism as the 'closest thing' to how I think myself.
The problem tends to be that it's a religion, bloated with all the ridiculousness that religions often get pegged with. Soseki's poetry and sermons reflect very closely what feel to be a truth of life. In Sermon, where the monk asks him about attaining 'Buddahood' and the Master (who I think we must assume is Soseki) answers, basically, 'that even wanting to attain Buddahood, is a desire that can keep you from buddahood' and I thought, yes, there is finally some consistency, that is logic.
The entirety of this volume says to me, the goal of life is the freedom life provides. True freedom comes from realizing your own thoughts, realizing who you are, the Greek truth, "Know thyself." And so, I'm so affected by this because I see in the writing something universally true, something that transcends culture, time, and space.
June 3, 2012
A friend introduced me to this collection, and I was entranced. Muso Soseki is known today for establishing rock gardening as meditative Zen practice, but his poetry — wonderful! And with translations by WS Merwin, you can’t ask for more!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews