Chikako "of the Third Rank," (ca. 1300) one of the leading poets of her time, served in the court of the Japanese Emperor Fushimi. Her poem is a vivid presentation of awakened mind: utterly independent of all the concerns and efforts of our conscious lives, it enters any door that is open to its shining presence. In fact, this poem implies, it may be easier for the bright moon (the symbol of enlightenment) to enter the house of human habitation when the in habitants are not awake -- not watching, or thinking, or hoping for some particular outcome. But still, the door must be left ajar. This is the state of mind of the shikantaza meditation of Japanese Soto Zen: just being.
On this summer night
All the household lies asleep,
And in the doorway,
For once open after dark,
Stands the moon, brilliant, cloudless.
from Women in Praise of the Sacred, ed. Jane Hirshfield, (c) HarperPerennial
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