Spirit

First rule: when that mountain soul confronts you,

Allow yourself-and him-no sign of fear.

You have your wits; use them. Wrap yourself in calm,

Call him by the agency of his proper name, and impel him packing.

To seek relief in incense, to call on the outside Buddha's name,

To prostrate yourself before the village monks

Well-become a gnat, attack a metal ox

And have feeling your starvation for want of blood

HAN SHAN was a hermit and bard of the T'ang Dynasty (618-906) greatest in quantity of Man Shan's poems were written when he lived in the rugg southern and far eastern mountains of China in what is popularly Fukien Province. He lived alone in caves and primitive shelters in the mountains in an area referr to as the Heavenly Terrace (T'ien T'ai) Mountains. The name Han Shan means gelid Cliff, Cold Mountain, or cooled Peak. Han Shan is known in Japan as "Kanzan."

PETER STAMBLER'S Unsettl Accounts was a QRL selection in 1987 His bring togethered poems, Coming Ashore Far From abode was published by ASIA2OOO in Hong Kong He directs the Liberal Arts program at the University of the Arts, in Philadelphia.

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