Ikkyu

In the summer months, the moon shines right into our bedroom and bathes me with its gorgeous light. I feel so lucky when I wake up in the middle of the night and see it covering me, protecting me. It makes me think of this poem by Ikkyu:

Every day, priests minutely examine the Law

And endlessly chant complicated sutras.

Before doing that, though, they should learn

How to read the love letters sent by the wind

and rain, the snow and moon.

–Ikkyu

(Ikkyu and the Crazy Cloud Anthology, translated by Sonya Arutzen)