Categories
Buddhism Dreams Poetry

Temporary Illusion-like Appearance

          Open your mind, heart
          to feel what you feel, name it

your Spiritual Guide whispers to you
as a wave that laps the sandy shore, gently
receding, absent whitecaps

          Name what you feel
          be not afraid
          for what rises will fall
          and what fear have we
          of what is not permanent,
          never mind what we cannot name?
          What we cannot name does not exist,
          so what is it?

and you go within,
as instructed for
within is all there is
when there is
no out there out there

and you feel

disappointment
red, raw, and sinewy
funnily, sadly, and sorely
familiar, rubbed, worn and
blistered, in risk of rot
if you let it fester like
resentment –
                    you can’t
I was here first          your way
in or out of this one

it’s not yours, except
you lay claim to its
disappointment
as though it could have been
if it could have it would have
and it didn’t so it won’t

and you think

acceptance
the sweetest fruit,
sometimes the heaviest to bear
laid at your feet as you risk despair
only having to pick it up, lift it
with legs of wisdom,
but no –
                    I chose
to disappoint       myself

yet, hope

hope is here too
blossoming as a new bud
for disappointment
could not create sorrow
where love and compassion
had already taken root –
my mind protected by a gate of
incredible goodness, the only pleasure
I’ll happily increase in samsara’s garden
where running never yields escape
for the iron fence is the nature
of the mind – presently misunderstood

so hope,

hope that yields to faith
is what transforms my dream
because I must believe that
change is possible, is real
to make progress, effort, heal
I trust my Spiritual Guide’s instructions
for I put them to the test
and when hope transformed to purest
Faith, I see they are the best
and still my foolish mind cannot
afford to rest

because I was the mind of
unnecessary disappointment today
the utmost waste of breath
when each and every thing that’s ripened
has been for my swift path’s benefit
          so this too I will transform
and birth love so great it shall
become the norm, even if time be brief
we have so little to work with,
yet there’s so much we can achieve
if we hold correct belief

so, still I see the disappointment
my mind claims as mine – though truly
I could do without, here, add to that list
my deluded doubt
                    I know my happiness doesn’t lie here,
and still I mourn a temporary loss –
                    so instead, I donate
these mistaken minds to the cause,
the cause of the effect, the only one
I wish to possess, the greatest mind
of precious Enlightenment

(for others’ benefit, may I forever cease
these horrible, painful minds of suffering)

Categories
Buddhism Poetry

Action’s Clarity

If waiting is confusion
      I must take constant action
always moving, the Tim Kennedy way,
      making meaning of each moment
remembering each pain

How else will I wish to escape?
How else will I make effort to change?

A traveler bound for futures lives
      knows she does not rest
intention fills each moment,
      causes for future effects

Why not make them virtuous,
     choosing happiness instead?

We constantly plan our suffering
      as if carefully ripening its seed
whatever fruit or thorn befalls us,
      we first reach forth to blame

How will we become wiser
                 while prioritizing our fame?

How will we help others
                 while wallowing in our shame?

We should make meaning of our life
                short and precious and rare

We should grasp this opportunity
             instead of yielding to our fear

Will you rise to the occasion?
      Enjoy all moments as they pass?

Understanding true causes
       I just rejoice and laugh

Categories
Poetry

Waiting’s Confusion

I wait for peace, but it does not come.
I throw myself into old enjoyments,
searching for happiness, but finding none

I am desperate, not a wise guy
so I’m never comprehending why
ever turning a blind eye to the truth

a truth delivered directly to my hands
and firmly ignored, as I close and lock
freedom’s door, I choose confusion

                          did I choose my slavery?
and now I wonder how the children cry
why me?

Categories
Buddhism Photography Saturday Expressions

Words haven’t been invented yet | Session 14

I sit
in what should be peace
I have a mostly happy mind and yet
not knowing how to feel
amongst constant mistaken discrimination
I stare longingly into the sky
cold press of flat rusted metal bars
under my calves
lukewarm Bengal Spice on my tongue
splashed on my knee
messy me

dark periwinkle birds, raptors
highlighted in pink and gold
dance and dive, painted as clouds
across the sky
part of me wants to cry
and that’s the seeds of delusions for you

because in reality
my mind is peaceful and content
and I have no problems

Oh! How I long for a problem!

so my mind searches and searches
and it detects a sadness that was only a seedling
and I tendered the seed of sadness until
now I could pluck at any time a flower
with each its own story of sorrow
and right now my mine is one of loneliness
the most stupid delusion of all because,
rooted in self-grasping ignorance,
it pushes me toward attachment along
a line of inappropriate attention
here now I’m hooked
on something I’ve never known, never seen
another unfulfilled desire has its evil hold on me
in another I cannot find, I can’t foresee
here I’m hooked
on suffering – making a terrifying joke
out of another precious lifetime

so while I sit and wish and wait
on Dharma I will meditate
knowing with blessings karma’s Fates
will be only kind
I dedicate my merit
feel sad, feel compassion
and with only bliss now cry


Categories
Buddhism Philosophy Poetry

The Deserter’s Confession

To desert – to leave someone, especially lacking 

Desert – a dry place barren or lacking of water, and therefore life, typically characterized by sand or rocky substrate  


Have I deserted others? I have been repenting for abandonment – all while running from those in need, in this very life.

I have grown attached to comfortable conditions and yet things are changing. Although I know the years bear varied fruits, I still expect a consistency inconsistent with samsara, and now I am frustrated and my wishes are unfulfilled!

What can I possibly do to bear the burdens and great sufferings of this life but go for refuge to the Three Jewels – the only glimmer of gold available to protect my mind until I reach full Enlightenment. I will always be vulnerable to the illusion-like elements, believing them to be inherently existent and external to my mind! Ha! A joke and a lie grasped at by a self-cherishing, ignorant mind. 

Please, Buddha! Ripen a Dharma Jewel in my mind that I may no longer abide in such senseless suffering knowing that I create causes, I purify negativity, I grow merit in abundance, especially by remaining ever mindful and alert to the delusions that arise continuously in my mind, nonstop, as I breathe. To fight against this endless deluge, a magnificent current, is only possible through blessings (a miracle indeed)!

Praise to Buddha, the neverending source of happiness guiding all my steps, so that I may always keep a happy mind and so I might attain Enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings! How wonderful I have this precious opportunity. I will not take it for granted and I will not waste time wishing things would be easier or faster. What benefit is that to me when my primary goal is to end samsara permanently? I will be patient. I will wait quietly. I will not seek revenge. I will take responsibility for my negative karma. I will act as a Bodhisattva, now, in the present, even as I’m becoming one. I will bring the future result into the present which is simply happiness – for whatever arises is bliss and emptiness and we’ll wake up laughing, seeing it was here all along. 

And after all, how far off can we really be?

All we have to do is give up grasping at this dream. 

I will desert the dream. 

I renounce samsara.

But I will not abandon living beings. I will come back to help all others. For my goal is not, nor ever, solitary peace.

No matter how much I think I may enjoy the quiet.

I will not live in the desert.

Categories
Poetry Thirsty Thursday

Thirsty Thursday | Who Will Love Me?

Who will love me?

When I am apart from this world

When I stand alone, refusing to be
wrecked by a cellphone superglued to my senses,
application addiction gone awry

When I refuse to partake in modern convention
preferring soft and spiky summer grass between my toes,
humidity sucking sweat to the surface of my skin,
lying upon rocks under thick air,
thick branches bearing bright green canopies,
thousands of thirsty leaves, some yellow and release
reminders that this moment is temporary,
and the Fall will come

Who will love me then?

When I bake appled pies and over-romanticize
the long shadows of autumned evening walks
my season of spiders, ripping through webs
strung out over trails,
boasting my bravery – no more fear of fine-legged friends
just as precious a life, so I give love
I give compassion, knowing these virtues are
given not taken, the cause of the effect,
happiness

Why, then, do I ask for love?

Believing the grasping, the craving
its fulfilment will make me whole, and I
will never want again –
a lie
like salt water quenching thirst
impossible
and possibility
still believed

Who will love me when I am
under a spell of such insanity?

And who will guide me out of this suffering?
Permanently?

Categories
Firescape Fridays

Trajectory | FF 11

How are people so deluded to believe war will not end up on our own doorstep after all of this?

Do what matters.

Love. Be generous. Be patient. Be honest. With oneself and others. Help neighbours. End war in your own life before expecting the world to do the same.

Play your part. Now.

Choose good.

Make meaning of this moment. Lest it be your last – unfathomable and unlimited the causes of death may be.

Please.

Make love your trajectory.

Categories
Firescape Fridays Philosophy

Choosing Happiness | FF 6

The people I know that are the happiest are those that take life in stride and make productive choices no matter what’s going on. They benefit more as they show up for other people and their own self.

These people do not gossip and rarely blame others for anything. They understand that it is healthier to learn from people’s mistakes rather than waste time feeding the feelings of resentment or hate that may naturally arise.

They do not publicly share “poor me” or “why me?” attitudes. Perhaps that is because they understand how to transform even adverse events so they can perceive everything as always working out in their best interest.

What a wonderful way to live!

I wish everyone who is struggling develops the capacity to build and practice this type of outlook.

I understand, from personal experience, even if you are facing mental health problems, you still have more control over your mind than you realize. But you must take that control and practice good mental habits. Or you will forfeit control of your mind to someone else – whether that’s family, government, or the myriad of capitalist interests on social media.

Keep control of yourself. Keep your cool.

Choose happiness.