"Sniffing Plum Blossoms" by the Tang Dynasty
Looking for spring but not seeing it all day long, my mango shoes are all over the long head clouds.
When I come back, I smile and smell the plum blossoms. Spring is already on the branches.
This poem is excerpted from the Three Hundred Eminent Monks Chapter of "Zen Poems". It is an excellent Zen poem that uses looking for spring and chanting plum blossoms as a metaphor for realizing one's true nature. It has always been praised by people. "Looking for spring all day long but not seeing it, walking on the long head clouds with mango shoes", the first two sentences describe the poet looking for spring all day long, wearing mango shoes, entering the mountains and crossing the clouds, but there is no trace of spring.
How many people who meditate go to great lengths to find their true colors, but cannot find them. Where is spring? "When I came back, I smiled and smelled the plum blossoms. Spring was already on the branches." The poet couldn't find spring and returned home exhausted. Who would have thought that when he smiled and smelled the plum blossoms, he found that spring was on the branches. Spring was already full - spring actually In your own courtyard! The true Dharmakaya realized by the Buddhas is already possessed by everyone. It does not rely on external pursuits and is inherently perfect. However, how many people will obtain it?
——Ancient Poetry Network