Zazen Wasan (Song of Zazen)

Text

Hakuin's short verse-hymn in the vernacular, chanted at the close of zazen sessions in Rinzai temples worldwide. "All beings by nature are Buddha, as ice by nature is water" — its forty-four lines compress Hakuin's teaching that practice and realization are not separate, intended to be memorised by lay practitioners.

tr. Trevor Leggett (after several earlier renderings), Public-domain English translation; original c. 1750

license: public_domain

Original language

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Hakuin Ekaku

Lineage: Rinzai

By Hakuin Ekaku

• Not Knowing How Near the Truth Isproverb
• Meditation in Activityproverb
• Song of Zazen (Zazen Wasan)verse
• The Soft Butter Meditation (Orategama)sermon
• Letter to a Sick Monk on Introspective Practicesermon

From Zazen Wasan

• Song of Zazen (Zazen Wasan)

Sources

• contentWikisource — English-language free library

  Wikisource — Zazen Wasan

  Zazen Wasan, the Song of Zazen, is a verse hymn by Hakuin that is chanted at the close of zazen in many Rinzai temples.