Here are two poems by the Chinese recluse known as Hanshan, or Cold Mountain, because that is where he wandered and wrote his poems on the rocks, possibly in the eighth century CE. For more about Hanshan, see this earlier post. In the first poem, ‘the ford’ refers to the way to cross to the shores of liberation, and being ‘poor in the woods’ means to be a hermit.

The people I see in this world
walk dazed in the dust of the road
they don’t know where they are
or how to find the ford
their bloom lasts how many days
their loved ones aren’t close long
even if I had a ton of gold
I’d rather be poor in the woods

* * *

Talking about food won’t make you full
talking about clothes won’t make you warm
only eating food will make you full
only wearing clothes will make you warm
people who don’t know how to reason
just say a buddha is hard to find
look inside your mind there’s the buddha
don’t look around outside

Tr. Red Pine