Excerpts from the Translator’s Preface: The milieu to which he retreated perhaps directly from the glittering life of the capital was the “world of
mountain men”- a free society of eccentric recluses from backgrounds
ranging between scholarly elegance on the one hand to total illiteracy on
the other. They tended to dwell in solitude or, more often, in secluded
communities in relatively inaccessible places, preferably well-wooded hills.
Seeking beauty in nature rather than in art ….. Here the air was pure, and genuine solitude achievable with the greatest ease.

Theoretically,
such realization is achievable anywhere at all; but, in practice, it is easier to
achieve when living close to nature, as the mountain men did. Sunshine
and rain, the thunder of cataracts, the whispering of streams, the moon
riding upon a sea of cloud, the expression glimpsed in the badger’s eyes,
the creak and sigh of bamboos, the angle of a leaning pine, the pattern of
moss on an ancient rock, the voices of insects and songs of birds, the hooting of owls and feathers of cranes-these and the myriad aspects of nature were recognized as direct intimations of the marvelous functions of
the sublime, illimitable, boundless, indivisible Tao .

Having realized what I really am, I can face all that may come with laughing equanimity, ……… -ha ha-ha-ha-ha! It’s all a game. Any part will suit me fine. You are going to
give me a thirty-two course (plus side dishes) Chinese banquet ? Thanks,
I’ll enjoy that. We have only a bowl or two of inferior-quality boiled rice
for dinner ? That will go down very nicely. We have nothing on which to
dine? Splendid, we shall have more time to sit outside and enjoy the
moonlight, with music provided by the wind in the pines.
You see how enviable is the lot of people who have realized the Tao!
Nothing can upset them.

Cold Mountain didn’t bully
or push to get things done his way, or bore people with pious platitudes,
or go around telling them how wrong they were, or how right his own beliefs
and actions. He never interfered with people..…

Some of Cold Mountain’s poems
are so full of the magic of moonlight, gnarled pines, and running water that, after reading one, I like to close my eyes and imagine myself in the
heart of the scene described. (Described? Well, no. Those brief poems just
touch on one or two telling details of a scene, allowing the reader to participate, Taoist fashion, in the poetic act of creation, by supplying the rest
from his own mind-the Tao!)
Though “my” Tao has led me into a less strenuous manner of contemplative life, I clearly recognize the mountain men’s choice as superior
to all others. They were not nearer the Tao than you or me-since it has
from the first been closer to us than our own noses-but they had a far
better chance of realizing in this life just how near that is, and of joyfully
savoring the bliss that comes with full realization.
What does all this amount to? You (the Tao) go to some mountain
forest (the Tao) to follow the path (Tao) that leads to realizing (Tao-ing)
the Tao! It sounds crazy, but it’s wonderful. If you don’t believe that, try it
for a while-very sincerely, though not of course seriously (in the sense of
experiencing humorless dedication, like a religious fanatic), for the Tao is
most easily found when laughter comes spontaneously and one is comfortably realized. Strain, tension, solemnity will blind you to its lovely
radiance.

Cold mountain poems :

Because the mind never stops
delusions rise like mist
the moon of our nature is clear and bright
in the open it shines without limit

I advise the monks I meet
focus on the deeper teachings
concentrate on getting free
don’t be destroyed by greed
there are laymen by the score
who know love of gold is wrong
know then what a wise man seeks
just let go and take what comes

I see Tientai summit
rising high above the crowd
the rhyme of pines and bamboo in the wind
the rhythm of the tide in the moonlight
I see the mountain’s green reach below
white clouds discussing the unseen
wilderness means mountains and water

I retired to the edge of a forest
and chose the life of a farmer
forthright in my dealings
no flattery in my speech
I prefer unpolished jade
you can have your jewels
I could never join the flock……..


I enjoy the simple path
between dark vines and mountain caves
the wilderness has room to roam
with white clouds for companions
there’s a road but not to town
only mindless men can climb
at night I sit on the rocks alone
until the moon comes up Cold Mountain

All my life too lazy to work
favoring the light to the heavy
others take up a career
I hold onto a sutra
a scroll with nothing inside
I open wherever I go
for every illness it has a cure
it heals with whatever works
once your mind contains no plan
wherever you are it’s alert

My poems are poems alright
though some call them gathas
poems or gathas what’s the difference
readers should be careful
take your time going through
don’t think they’re so easy
use them to improve yourself
they’ll make it much more fun

Spring water is pure in an emerald stream
moonlight is white on Cold Mountain
silence thoughts and the spirit becomes clear
focus on emptiness and the world grows still
This poem offers a summary of the Tientai meditation technique known as chih-kuan
(silencing-focusing), or abstraction from thought and contemplation of reality. In his
commentary to the fenwangching (Sutra of the Benevolent King), Chih-yi defines the latter thus: “When formless wisdom illuminates the formless world, both inside and out are
still, for both are seen as empty.”

Merit refers to the wonderful effects of selfless acts in freeing beings
from delusion and suffering. A bodhisattva is one who works for the enlightenment and
liberation of others. Forbearance is one of the six virtues cultivated by the bodhisattva.
The others are charity, morality, devotion, meditation, and wisdom. In the last line, some
editions have chen (true) in place of chen (anger), in which case the line would read:
“forbearance protects the true mind