Page 166 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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characters are by the brush of the Grand who divided water into myriad icy flowers. indeed is his steadfast heart. Here is my
Minister and our Great Patron [Ashikaga Those who would represent snow were poets humble poem or, rather, an afterthought:
Haruuji; d. 1560], to which no idle words and painters of the Tang and Song dynas- Under the clear sky the chilling white sheet;
should be casually added. That notwith- ties. Scholar Su [Dongpo] built a hall with a Incorruptible is the purity of heart that
standing, the request [to have my inscrip- thatched roof amidst deep snow; he covered knows elegant things;
tion] was pressing enough to break my its walls with a painting of snow and called May he always put to use [the thought of
reticence. I, being old and lazy, am a man of the building Snow Hall. Our Buddha snow] to cleanse his heart;
few flattering words. Thus, without elabo- Sakyamuni had reached the Right State of The picture of the mountains yields white
rating on snow, here I offer a lead poem and Consciousness atop the snow-covered lotus blossoms.
ask the Venerable Master of the Hdsen [the mountain peak, where he sat and meditated
Hôsen'an subtemple] and his companion to in order to attain Enlightenment. Our Pa- The Seventh year ofTenmon [1538]; the
join me with their poems, so that, like bur- triarch Seppd [Xuefeng or Snow Peak; 822- Year dwells Under the 2^th Constellation
nishing chipped white jade, theirs would im- 908] had attained the Way atop Ao-shan [in Hydra; Autumn, the 8th month. Rustic Zen
prove mine. Hunan]. All of these occurred within close Monk Soshd; written at Chdshdken [Listen-
proximity of snow. All that Buddha ing to the Pines Study], [followed by a
Snow, in the diagram of the Book of Dharma [embraces] z's likened to being tripod-shape seal]
Changes, is explained as a multitude of amidst snow. Who is the master of this
Ying elements, easily changeable; it is also study? Isn't he surely a person of impeccable At the lower right is a poem by the
said that snow was made by the Creator purity and simplicity of heart? Admirable monk Teihô Shochu (dates unknown), also

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