The path also speaks through longing, beauty, and song.

Once feared passion would harm the way,Entered mountains, yet feared to stray.How to find a path complete,Faithful to Buddha, love replete?Passion, no passion—all the same,Through mountains, love finds its flame.Meeting is fate’s secret string,Buddha’s face, my love, the king.

Mountains turned, waters crossed through time,All from past lives’ ties sublime.Lives recall, reluctant part,Better to cling to hills and heart.Memories fade as time will flow,Dependence ends with parting’s blow.If one grasps impermanence’s song,What fear love’s end, however long?

Last night spring breeze kissed the dew,Green leaves, red blooms, butterflies flew.The bright moon drifts, clouds fall apart,Foolish heart seeks the Bodhi path.Sunset fades behind the hill,Time leaves no trace, moon lingers still.Life and death, by heart’s own choice,Every leaf and bloom bears no fixed voice.

One flower, one tree, one shining star,One heart, one thought, one love afar.One mountain, one stream, one moon’s soft light,One life, one fate, one bond so tight.

A single vow, a faithful heart,A lifetime’s trust, a love to impart.Yet feelings stray from those once true,Moonlight stays, but hearts renew.A withered tree, a shadowed pane,A yellow lamp, a sutra’s strain.Three years of yearning, both form and shade,Silent geese pass, the heart’s light made.

Who says that ascetics lack all feeling?It’s just false scenes that stir dust reeling.Alone, with body, speech, and mind I yield,Shed self’s grasp, and homeward be unsealed.Three times ten directions’ mirror shows,Whence to seek the true heart that glows?True heart is formless, shape unknown,Speech and words—mere phantom tones.Find true heart, and call it Buddha’s light,Yet with heart still clings, dark shadows bite.No speak, no think, no choosing ways,Returning home is but a moment’s gaze.

This moment, I light incense, cast greed away.This moment, I let go of love and hate’s sway.This moment, I bow down low, pride set aside.This moment, I rush to practice, lest time slide.This moment, I sit on cushion, wisdom to reclaim.This lifetime, I stay close to life and death’s flame,To wake all beings from endless pain.This lifetime, I hold fast to troubles’ test,To prove the Bodhi path is best.This lifetime, I shed robes to bare my soul,To become Buddha, one and whole.This lifetime, I seek no Nirvāṇa’s bliss,For home I’ve found, in this present kiss.

In that lifeYou left home with great ambitionsAnd no news ever sinceFor us to meet again in the next lifeI then owed you on purposeNot every lovewas accompanimentIn that lifeYou turned back your lookThe world changed as a resultAlthough memory no longer existedI was nonetheless full of confidenceAll the wishes in the previous lifeAre realized gradually at this momentAre realized gradually at this momentIn that lifeYou and I fell in loveI said that love wouldn’t changeAlthough life had limitsAs if the fortuitous bloom of water lilyBut still blooming in grandeurAnd inscribed in the heart ever sinceIn that lifeI sat quietly in waitingYou languished over life and deathWouldn’t let vicissitudes accompany youReturning to Nirvana with all your heartI then transformed into lotus paddlesTo protect you from strong winds and distressTo protect you from strong winds and distressComing home, Coming home, Coming home, Coming homeComing home, Coming home, Coming home, Coming homeIn this lifeI prepare the family feastWaiting in impatience your returnAfter having tasted the bitterness of humanitySo as to know the love from parentsImmeasurability is boundless and limitlessTogether we witness the Nirvana of BuddhaTogether we witness the Nirvana of BuddhaComing home, Coming home, Coming home, Coming homeComing home, Coming home, Coming home, Coming home