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My newest zen hero: Ikkyu, originator of the concept of “the red thread of zen”. Philip Toshio Sudo described Ikkyu’s philosophy and influence like this:

To Ikkyu, cutting off relations between men and women so as to attain enlightenment made no sense. In his philosophy of “red thread zen,” sex deepened the experience of enlightenment. No one can enter this world without being born of both a man and woman, he said; we are connected to sex by the “red thread” of blood at birth. Back and back the red thread goes, long and unbroken, to the origin of all being. We’re of sex. That fact should be embraced, not avoided, Ikkyu said.

The poems are fantastic; I look forward to reading more of them. This one is from Wild Ways: Zen Poems of Ikkyu, a collection of translations by John Stevens:

The Dharma Master of Love

My life has been devoted to love play;
I’ve no regret about being tangled in red
thread from head to foot,
Nor am I ashamed to have spent my days as a
Crazy Cloud–
But I sure don’t like this long, long bitter
autumn of no good sex!

For ten straight years I reveled in pleasure
houses.
Now I’m all alone deep in the dark mountain
valley.
Thirty thousand cloud leagues live between
me and the places I love.
The only sound that reaches my ears is the
melancholy wind blowing in the pines.