death poems . .

There's a Zen Buddhist sect where the monks have to write a
death poem on their death bed. Here are some samples : some of
these are koans, some are haikus.

I have seen moon and blossoms; now I go
To view the last and loveliest: the snow.
Rippo

When I leave
these eyes of flesh, I wish to see
the lotus.
Tesshu

Such is the world's way
in fall..the willow
sheds its' leaves.
Tanehiko

Till now
I thought that only others die--
that such happiness
should fall to me!
Ryoto

I go back to the void
where frost and snow
won't bother me.
Tojaku

Seen from outside creation,
earth and sky aren't worth
a box of matches.
Vajiro

One monk forgot to do his death poem and shortly
after his brother whispered in his ear to remind him, he
leaped out of bed and wrote at the desk, returned to the
bed and died. This is what he wrote:

Birth is thus
Death is thus.
Verse or no verse.
What's the fuss.