Encountering a Fact

A monk devoted to Buddhist precept

The rules for all his life he kept

Once he was walking at night

When the mist of darkness had defeated all light

To forget darkness he started to sing

Accidently he stepped on something

A squeaking sound spread amidst the dense fog

He knew he had stepped on an egg bearing frog

The monk lost all his calm

His being was filled with regret and alarm

In view of the Buddhist precept of not taking life

With guilt his spirit was rife

With a heavy heart he continued to walk

Reaching home he refused to eat and talk

He threw himself on the bed

And took an extra pillow to rest his restless head

Past midnight when he managed to sleep

In his dream hundreds of frogs started to leap

All the frogs demanded his life

Each holding the sharpest knife

At the crack of the dawn

When the darkness had gone

He raced to examine the ground

He had stepped on an overripe eggplant, he found

Uncertainty at once stopped

All the burden of wrong knowledge dropped

Does there exist an objective world?

This enquiry is vital for Zen to be unfurled

To encounter a fact

Without prejudice we must act

When all imagination falls

Truth then appears and enthralls