Muso Soseki was a Japanese monk born in the 13th century who achieved satori at the age of 30 while staying in a hermitage in the countryside. One night he was walking about in the dark and reached out for a wall he thought was there. When he realized it wasn’t, he gave a great laugh and was enlightened. It was Master Muso who oversaw the construction of the famous garden at Saiho-ji temple in Kyoto. He spent many years in solitude in the mountains, during which time he wrote a series of poems expressing his deep connection with nature.
Green mountains
have turned yellow
so many times
The troubles and worries
of the world of things
no longer bother me
One grain of dust in the eye
will render the Three Worlds
too small to see
When the mind is still
the floor where I sit
is endless space