poetry diary
Mu
Two messy eyebrows
one little childhood scar.
The skyline on the sand
and four drops of green tea.
So one writes blank.
A monk asked Chao-chou: – What is the Buddha?
Chao-chou answered: – It’s a pacifier for babies.
Like some babies
we suddenly accept the deception of the sense.
To spit it by ourself it is not difficult:
just we can resign ourself
to a free mouth.
Originally posted in Italian on January 1, 2009 at 18:55
A monk asked Lin-chi the patriarch: – The scriptures pass on that as the Buddha Śākyamuni reached the enlightenment and broke the chain of the twelve causes, he decided not to enter the nirvana, because, moved by a great compassion, he wanted every living being to join that condition.
– You are saying of the bodhisattva.
– After that he broke free, how can the bodhisattva liberate the other ones?
– He ignores them.
– Why can’t he reveal them the Way?
– Breaking free he already did all that he could.
– Then it’s impossible to help the other ones in the Way.
– Ah, you are such an ungrateful person!
You are really ungrateful
if you don’t thank duly
who liberates you from himself.
One ring is enough to break
the whole chain of the twelve causes
if you don’t wrap yourself in the rest.
But not even ingratitude
could cause any reaction
or karma in who is free.
Originally posted in Italian on November 2, 2008 at 13:19
Two monks worked silently digging the ground behind the monstery. After a while one of them exclaimed: – Buddha is right here!
The other one said: – Look where you work, you are digging already dug ground!
The first monk had an important intuition.
If you dig the ground, Buddha is with you.
If you don’t dig the ground, Buddha is with you.
If you dig already dug ground, dig harder:
Buddha never moved!
Originally posted in Italian on September 28, 2008 at 15:46
When the new pupil Hsing-hua arrived at Lin-chi’s monastery and was received by the master, he immediately asked him: – Master, what is the difference between the enlightened one and the not-enlightened one?
– Who?
– The enlightened one and the not-enlightened one.
– And who are you?
– My name is Hsing-hua.
– Mine is Lin-chi.
Hsing-hua hesitated, then he asked again: – Master, what is the difference between the enlightened one and the not-enlightened one?
– Hsing-hua!
– Yes, master!
– There. Try to repeat it now.
But the new pupil still hesitated, then Lin-chi jumped upon him and holding his forefinger in front of him said: – So, the eyes are two: how many finger can you see?
A shiver ran down Hsing-hua’s spine.
The rain falls screening
a transmission defect:
dry window
wet eyes
A raindrop has fallen
on the lash.
Can you see it?
One three seven onehundredandseven eyes
one eye for every raindrop.
Originally posted in Italian on August 15, 2008 at 17:09
A monk asked Fa-yen: – What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from westside?
Fa-yen answered: – The shadow of the elephant on the ground, is as thin as the one of the butterfly.
How thin is the Way!
Even a little sole fish
raises the tide on the sea rocks,
just a few inches to the diaphragm of the ocean.
Originally posted in Italian on July 8, 2008 at 11:52
A monk asked Chao-chou: – The ignorant man and Buddha are equal. What’s the meaning of that?
Chao-chou answered: – They both know they aren’t.
A stone which is going to fall
and another one already fallen
what's their difference?
Grab in advance the stone
which struck your head.
Originally posted in Italian on May 18, 2008 at 23:47
While master Nan-ch’üan and his first pupil Chao-chou walked along the Huang-shan mountains, the first pupil said: – Master, those trees grow perfectly straight though the steep ground down in the valley. How do they know the right direction?
Nan-ch’üan answered: – There is no other possibility.
Crooked grounds, straight trees:
no other possibility.
Straight grounds, crooked trees:
existence ignores its own direction.
Originally posted in Italian on March 15, 2008 at 22:16
A monk asked Yün-men, the patriarch: – What is the last truth of Buddhism?
Yün-men answered: – I can’t tell you the truth without lying.
Now that you listened to the patriarch
tell me if he lied or not.
If you affirm it, you’ll betray the patriarch
if you deny it, you’ll ignore his lesson.
Then tell me: did he lie or not?
Originally posted in Italian on February 15, 2008 at 22:56
The apocryphal koans that began to appear yesterday on the blog, are another part of the project «apocryphal zen», on which I’m working currently. I’m going to explain better what it is about in the next post, here I’m going to tell some words about the apocryphal koans.
Two monks pick up a flower and offer it to Buddha.
The first one says: – It’s beautiful.
The second one says: – It’s dying.
Without looking at the two monks’ faces
tell me now if they are smiling or not.
In front of the splendour, face to face with death
how do you stay disarmed?
Originally posted in Italian on January 27, 2008 at 4:27
Alfio Farbo
I'm 30 years old and walk along the way of poetry. Poetry is neither my pastime nor my hobby and I don't give one single minute of my free time to it: I don't dabble in poetry. Poetry is a matter of life and death.
I live in different cities at the same time. Until now I was divided between Palermo - where I've grown up - and Heidelberg - where I first met my self. While at the moment I pretend to live in Vienna, there's something I left in Berlin, something that I should get back or drop, someday.
This blog is an English adaptation of the original Italian blog «vuoto su carta». All the translations were made by me personally, so that you have one single responsible person for this all. Translating my poems is an interesting work, it’s practically a rewriting, especially for those pieces which are almost exclusively centred on rhythm, sound and word games. Some poems are extremely simple and almost natural for me to translate, but some others are a little complicated for my English (I’d like to think for everyone’s) and so be patient if some verses sound a little bit strange or even grammatically not correct. Sometimes such strange translations reach however interesting results, but although this, I’m still open to every kind of suggestion you could have, and very thankful too.
In English the title sounds like For whom the lights stay on. The book is in Italian and if you are interested you can order a copy for just 2,5 € on the website of il primitivo editore or directly emailing him here (though his being primitive, he speaks English fluently!)
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