A Drifting Boat

By: Sōhan Gempō (also known as Shōun)

Upon Reading Sengai’s Waka Collection, Drifting Boat

In this world

a drifting boat

in any bay or inlet

when entrusted to the breeze

can cross over to the other side.

Note: Shōun (1848-1922) was a Zen priest and Abbott of the major temple in Kyoto called Daitoku-ji. He references here the work of the earlier Zen Master Sengai Gibon (1750-1837). The term “cross over” is a reference to enlightenment. This quote is taken from The Art of Twentieth-Century Zen: Paintings and Calligraphy by Japanese Masters, by Audrey Yoshiko Seo, with Stephen Addiss.