Categories
Music Saturday Expressions Video

Obscurity | Session 16

Video & Poem inspired by “Her & The Sea,” song by CLANN


Uncertain are the times
unknown is the plot
does the shadow ever darken
where time cannot be bought

we hasten t’wards our doom
driven by attachment’s whip
we medicate our gloom
dying in delusions’ grip

Categories
Buddhism Good Fortune Poetry

Feeling Joyful

Here and now, I finally know
A result, born from
Past cause – a virtuous one – and
Present causes making future effects
Yes, this is the source of my

Happiness!

Categories
Buddhism Poetry

Time Tempts Belief

hard to believe
Time, hardly passed
          and a mark, already here
nearly two years
          and a different mind
has appeared, so many times over

nearly two years ago
you claimed me
unsteady, unstable,
          toxic and cold
now, not two years passed
and I’m too goddamned
          stable and heart-of-gold fast,
too nice for any old soul
          how goddamned depressing
                    for this romantic dolt

time after time, rejected
for incredible conventional reason
understanding it’s karmic creation
                    — nothing personal of course
while feeling deeply personal
a reality of my own making
just the swiftest vehicle
                    my own preference for
navigating Niagara roads

still hard to accept sometimes
          it’s the life I needed, I chose
thank you, my kind Spiritual Guide,
for ripening such conditions —
from which I could never hide
and one day will appreciate
          more than my present self knows

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 Video

On and On | V3

I should sleep
but time is fleeting
so when visions creep
I bow in greeting

the storms have come
and the rain it pours
what little I get
leaves me wanting more

I thought I found freedom
but only suffering comes
I long to escape —
but the feeling goes on, and on


Music: “The Feeling” by Lost Frequencies
Video & Editing: K. Samways

Categories
Buddhism Poetry

the Runner

smart mouth, ignorant mind
quick to speak, quick to die
life too brief, running out of time
creating causes to ever find

   endless suffering

          why me?

fast talk, soft skin
feel without, see within
fast decisions, a life of sin
feel samsara hook you in

   with attachment

           why not me?

as I seek the highest highs
I learn the lowest lows
then suddenly sink lower
than I’d ever thought I’d go

   the lower realms

          not again

yet always I’m forgetting
the causes of my pain
making all escape attempts
nothing but in vain

   putting me to shame

          again

the blue of Mount Meru
reflects into our sky
all the flesh and bones
of all my lives gone by

     exceed its mass

         and still, again,
                 I try

Categories
Poetry Thirsty Thursday Video

Thirsty for Nature | V2

what need have I
for touch of yours
when ‘cross my skin
this water pours

absorbed in icy creek
or embraced by steamy tub
I don’t miss your hands
when sultry bubbles rub

breezy leaves float gently down
to lucious forest floor below
to the music of nature, sensuous sound
I meditate and let my wisdom grow


Music: “Drippin” by SaQi, WORTH, & The Human Experience
Video & Editing: K. Samways

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
Dreams Poetry Video

A Strange Feeling | V1

something there
and something not
something cold
and something hot

a fingernail stroked down your back
a moldy sandwich in your pack
enough of this, it’s time to go
it’s all a dream, I thought you’d know


Music: “Caves” by CLANN
Video & Editing: K. Samways