Much passes without meaning in the mountains
Art and writing inspired by ancient Zen and Taoist poets.
Gold can’t buy the peace found in the mountains
Winter mornings, snow-covered ancient cedars
Icy waterfalls crackle at dawn
Leaves fall, far-off mountain peaks appear
The beauty here can’t be bought and sold
Like clouds overhead
Time, gold, right and wrong pass without meaning.
- Stonehouse (Ch’ing-kung, 1272-1352).
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In the fourth-century a Buddhist monk, Chih Tun, was ridiculed for offering to buy a mountain from the hermit who lived there.
(Sources: The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse by Red Pine and A New Account of Tales of the World by Shih-shuo Hsin-yu).
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