While everyone else
Is so busy striving,
The lone traveler
Is at ease by himself.

He’s been living outside of convention
For a long time now;
In his pouch there is nothing at all.

When he walks,
He takes a cane for a companion;
When he talks,
He has the rocks for an audience.

If you ask him what his religion is,
When hungry it’s a bowl of rice.

Wen Xiang (1210 CE-1280 CE), Wenxiang was a Song–Yuan era Chan monk, active during the politically turbulent period surrounding the Mongol conquest of China. He is remembered within Buddhist history rather than political chronicles, which is why he is less well known outside religious sources.