SANG, Ku
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All that lives is born of water
grows by water
changes with water
and is imperishable with water.
The traces of our love
and our tears as well.
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I gaze out at the river
as if spell-bound by music,
As I forget myself
and cease to be myself, this moment, now,
this oh so marvellous state!
Now I, one drop of water
within the rhythm
of that widely sprawling flow,
without desire
without temptation
without discernment
becoming one with the transparent Real
become a calm child in the cradle.
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I have spent today,
that source of mystery, today,
wallowing in the dirt.
Along the sewers of my soul,
so full of stench and running muck,
the spirits of all purity
have foamed and died.
Tomb of Time turned to a muddy slough!
Just a trickle of tears flows from the drain
and drips into the coal-black stream.
Sun and moon, and time too, have lost their shine,
and all those things that once bloomed flowers of grace
reciprocate now with a wilting look.
Ah! When will that day come
when my life and all its meaning
will flow into the distant sea
and recover eternal freshness?
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Watching how the river waters flow
around red mountain slopes,
I bring to mind that moment when
a single drop of dew, long seeping
through the crust of earth, sprang out,
a tiny spring high up there on a desolate peak.
Watching how the river waters wind
across the verdant fields,
I picture when at last they reach
their destined ocean's waiting vastness
and flowing into the billowing waves
leap beyond the bounds of time.
Watching how the river waters flow
with perfect ease before me,
I imagine when at last
this river, now all transmigration
with its repeated evaporations,
and I, the carcass of Karma-destiny then thrown off,
will meet again upon this spot as living beings.
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The river flows on,
without a filthy heart,
all pure of body,
it flows like time in Eternity.
The river flows on,
without a paltry body,
all pure of heart,
it flows like Eternity in time.
The river flows on,
neither heart nor body,
it flows, an essence of nothingness.
Translation: Brother Anthony of Taizé