溪xī聲shēng盡jìn是shì廣guǎng長cháng舌shé,，山shān色sè無wú非fēi清qīng淨jìng身shēn

What does 溪聲盡是廣長舌，山色無非清淨身 (xī shēng jìn shì guǎng cháng shé, shān sè wú fēi qīng jìng shēn) mean?

溪聲盡是廣長舌，山色無非清淨身 (xī shēng jìn shì guǎng cháng shé, shān sè wú fēi qīng jìng shēn) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "The sound of the stream is all the Buddha's eloquent tongue; the color of the mountains is nothing but his pure body." In use it means: Nature itself is preaching the dharma at all times. The teaching of awakening is not confined to spoken words or written texts but resounds in every natural phenomenon. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Water note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Goat.

Literally: "The sound of the stream is all the Buddha's eloquent tongue; the color of the mountains is nothing but his pure body."

The reading

Su Dongpo wrote this after visiting Lushan and sitting by a stream through the night. The rushing water did not recite any sutra he could name, yet it said everything he needed to hear. Mountains do not meditate, yet their stillness teaches more than a decade of lectures. For those attuned to it, the entire natural world is a continuous sermon with no beginning and no end. The congregation is anyone willing to sit down, stop talking, and listen with something other than their ears.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element水 Water
• Zodiac tie羊 Year of the Goat

Source Su Shi (蘇軾 / Su Dongpo), Song Dynasty, Chan-influenced poem at Lushan

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Nature, Seasons & Health, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Goat, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.