Sesson Yūbai

"I do not like praises and honours Nor did I fear disdain I just stayed away. My mind, clear water, My body bound and tied For three years in Chang'an. I sing what I feel in songs In straight words, undecorated."

"When the Japanese Zen priest Mugaku Sogen (1226-1286) was in China and threatened by invading Mongol troops, he composed a fourline poem. Years later another Zen priest, Sesson Yūbai (1290-1347), when he was in prison and threatened with death, took Mugaku's poem and, using each line as the opening verse of a new poem,"