虞 美 人　
宋‧蔣捷

少年聽雨歌樓上，紅燭昏羅帳。

壯年聽雨客舟中，江闊雲低  斷雁叫西風。

而今聽雨僧廬下，鬢已星星也。

悲歡離合總無情，一任階前點滴到天明。

Listen to the rain

Listening to the rain in teenage at a penthouse,
where I was in a silky curtained bed
with a dim light of red candle next to it.

Listening to the rain in middle age on a boat,
I was on a journey sailing over a wide river
in low cloudy weather accompanied by west wind,
and I heard a lost wild goose crying.

Listening to the rain now-a-day
in a monastic retreat cottage,
my hairs already turned grey.

Happiness or Grief,
Gathering or parting,
all be changed relentlessly.

Let my tears drop down the floor
till dawn at front door.

–Chinese ancient Zen poem by Jian-Jay (Sun Dynasty) –

Zen poem study

The poem links three different moods at different ages through
a simple action of “Listening to the rain”. One day in the same
midst rainy weather, his live has gone through many searches
and chases, lost and grief. And finally he realized it is a rough
journey.

At teenage, he spent time chasing for the pleasure of lust life.
The rain was a good excuse to stay out overnight without going
home. The penthouse is where the money can buy the sensual
pleasure of alcoholic drinks and sex. It was a young life of wildness
and extremely frivolous.

The life at middle age, he chases the wealth and fame. He has to
travel a lot to many places and was unable to go home often. One
day in winter, the weather was bad with dark low cloud and west
wind. He was alone by him selves sailing on a small boat in the big
river. Suddenly he felt very lonely. After hearing the cry of a lost wild
goose, he felt him selves likewise being lost in the big river. He
became extremely sad and very homesick.

As time goes by so fast, he became aged. He temporarily resided
in a monastic retreat for a short rest. One rainy night, he stood by the
window watching rain drops.

The sad rain noise recalled his memory of the past. All the past
happiness, grief, sorrow, gatherings and partings gradually become
far away from him now. The live has gone like a dream yesterday.
He realized the live is an illusion and is impermanent although the
raining noise is sensed so real in front of him. He let his tears fall as
the rain does till dawn. He feels his live being sort of empty and what
he can do is just letting go into the universe.

Reflection:

When listening to the rain, our mind changes from time to time.
Our feeling also changes in different ages, from teenage till we
get aged.

How many times have we experienced the raining days in our live?
How often have we ever examined our selves with full-mindfulness
in the same raining days?

Our mind shall be carefully examined inward. If our mind searches
and chases for the outward wealth and sensational pleasure, we will
make our live illusive, meaningless and totally wasted.

Live is so precious. We should make this very live useful and
meaningful.

Let’s listen to the honest messages from our mind.