Author Description

"As human beings who cannot avoid physical life and death, all of us wish to see clearly exactly what life-and-death is, and to settle on our attitude toward it. Even though there may be no way to avoid the physical pain, we would all at least like to face death without the mental torment as though having fallen into hell. What is important here is how to live having settled on our attitude towards life-and-death. These poems are on life-and-death." -- Kosho Uchiyama"After giving his last teachings to his disciples and talking about impermanence, the Buddha said, 'From now on all of my disciples must continuously practice. Then the Thus Come One's dharma body will always be present and indestructible.' This 'indestructible dharma body' is the Buddha's eternal life in the Lotus Sutra. I think the interpenetration of impermanence and the eternal life of Buddha is what Uchiyama Roshi is teaching us about in this collection of his poems. " -- Shohaku Okumura