A peasant's shack, a deserted road, I loaf in my old clothes
Country Cottage
A peasant's shack beside the
Clear river, the rustic gate
Opens on a deserted road.
Weeds grow over the public well.
I loaf in my old clothes. Willow
Branches sway. Flowering trees
Perfume the air. The sun sets
Behind a flock of cormorants,
Drying their black wings along the pier.
- Tu Fu (712-770), translated by Kenneth Rexroth, One Hundred Poems From The Chinese
This brush painting embodies the Taoist spirit of wu wei—effortless simplicity, solitude, and contentment in ordinary things. Tu Fu's vision of the peasant's life beside the clear river invites us into quietness, where weeds, willows, and cormorants carry as much weight as any palace. Kenneth Rexroth's translation, from One Hundred Poems From The Chinese, carries the same unhurried plainness Tu Fu practiced — language that does not reach, but rests.This piece belongs to a series of brush paintings exploring the Zen and Taoist hermit tradition — the ancient conviction that a deserted road and old clothes can hold as much as a kingdom.
. . .
• The first post from my new Substack, Surviving Cancer, The Survivor Mindset.
The Tao Te Ching Journal: A Path To Inner Quiet
Zen Mountain Journal blends Taoist hermit poetry, contemplative art, and reflections drawn from a lifetime shaped by wilderness, solitude, and decades doing creative work on the outer boundaries of our culture. These journals are companions for seekers — guides in the reconnection with inner quiet, beauty, and the “soundless music” of a life lived with simplicity and meaning.
• Size: 9.25 × 8.5 inches — convenient size for desk or lap.
• Hardcover — the book can be written in without a table or desk.
• Double wire-o bound to lay flat.
• Printed on Mohawk Superfine, a premium uncoated paper for a beautiful writing surface.
• 160 pages.
