skip to main content

Moments:
Winter Sunlight

3-5 minutes read
A black and white pocket printer style photo of a bunny in snow nibbling on grass.

happy footprints
a bunny nibbling
on the first snow


there…
a small house
under a small hill


One day while taking a break to sweep the path, at the moment a pebble shot up and knocked against a bamboo, the great matter suddenly became clear. Then he [Xiangyan] composed a verse saying

With one blow, subject and object vanish.
I no longer practice to solve things on my own.
In all my activities I celebrate the ancient path,
And do not fall into passivity.

Eihei Dōgen (1200—1253)
Eihei Kōroku (Dōgen’s Extensive Record)
457. Dharma Hall Discourse “Fallen Flowers throughout the Seasons”
Translated by Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura

A colorful and light sumi-e painting of a European tit bird perched on a snow-covered branch. The bird is painted in green, yellow, and gray ink colors. It leans down and forward, stretching its head out to watch a pebble flying below.

方丈に「慈」の大軸や冬日射

ほうじょうに「じ」のおおじくやふゆひざし

hōjō ni “ji” no ōjiku ya fuyu hizashi

In the abbot’s quarters
“compassion” on a large scroll—
winter sunlight

Mitsu Suzuki (1914–2016)
A White Tea Bowl

Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process, he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung. The other monk asked him, ‘Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know its nature is to sting?’ ‘Because,’ the monk replied, ‘to save it is my nature.’

101 Zen Tales
Compiled by Nyogen Senzaki

A light ink painting with a central white circle emerging from a subtly grainy surrounding.

great intimacy
liberated mind


Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings

The Buddha
Snp 1.8

chickadees hopping
behind the window—
kitchen warm

Under the haiku poem, three European tits are painted in sumi-e style using green, yellow, and ink gray colors. One is eating from a feeder, another is fluttering its wings above it, and the third stands to the side, watching the other two.