Cold Mountain Quotes

“I once saw a huge pack of dogs, scruffy, mangy, maybe so, but they slept where they pleased, and waking, ran romping. But throw them a bone? It was war in the street . . . Maybe it’s a good thing bones are rare: but until there’s enough, no creature will share.”
― Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems: Zen Poems of Han Shan, Shih Te, and Wang Fan-Chih

“Day by day the blossoms fall, Year by year the people go. Where the dust blows through these heights, There once shone a silent sea.”
― Han-Shan, Cold Mountain 101 Chinese Poems Translated by Burton Watson

“I sit beneath the cliff, quiet and alone.
Round moon in the middle of the sky’s a bird
ablaze:
all things seen are mere shadows in its brilliance,
that single wheel of perfect light…
Alone, its spirit naturally comes clear.
Swallowed in emptiness in this cave of darkest
mystery,
because of the finger pointing, I saw the moon.
That moon became the pivot of my heart.”
― Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems: Zen Poems of Han Shan, Shih Te, and Wang Fan-chih

“As long as we are bound by the Six Extremes
discussing the Nine Knots is futile
talented men remain in the wilds
the unskilled close rough doors
the cliffs are still dark at noon
the valleys stay dim on cloudless days
here you'll find the sons of elders
and none of them have any pants”
― Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems

“I live in a village in the countryside, without a father or a mother. With no name, no rank in my clan. Some people will call me any old name. Some people call me another. No one is my teacher: I’m just a poor low creature like many another. But I know myself. I’m real, and my heart is the Diamond.”
― Hanshan, Cold Mountain Poems: Zen Poems of Han Shan, Shih Te, and Wang Fan-Chih