Categories
Buddhism Philosophy Poetry

Consistently Mistaken

I thought when I received, I would be grateful.

I wasn’t.

I thought to be pursued would be fun, a real romp.

It wasn’t.

I thought to be beheld as beautiful could give me confidence, know my beauty.

It didn’t.

I thought to be loved to could open my heart, make me love.

It couldn’t.

I thought when tested, I would pass.

I didn’t.


“We will only engage in pure spiritual practice if we have definitely understood that we have a precious human life and we have to use it now. We can die today. It’s possible.”

Gen-la Kunsang, Kadampa Podcast

Categories
Buddhism Love Letters Poetry Thirsty Thursday

Remember me? | Letter 9

Dear Karmic Potential,

Are we meeting again?
Have we met before?
Your appearance undoes me
but when I search
I cannot find me at all
nor can I find you

It’s like you’re in a different city
— certainly not here
and yet your closeness lingers
as though you are still near

Suddenly I am all the days
you choose to ignore
and I am the grasping
and I am the craving once more

Still, I cannot but hope you
also feel my presence
maybe yearn for my embrace
begging time be brief ‘tween now
and next you’ll see my face

I pray it be this lifetime
I pray delusion-free
Yet if I have to wait another ten
rounds to serve with you, I will

Love wishes only happiness
so that is all I wish for you

I know it’s all wrong
if ever samsara feels right
but this I am certain of, also,
we can, we will escape

Why not tonight?

Love,
A past and future partner in (escaping) crime

Categories
Buddhism Love Letters Thirsty Thursday

Happy | Letter 8

To the Musician,

How can I count the ways
I have experienced joy
with you
already

How can I tell thee
the way you make me feel
when I know I have
created the causes

How can I share wisdom
when I am drowning
in samsara’s sea?

Still, you have helped
dispel the ignorance
of a thousand aeons,
a dreadful darkness,
with a single torch

How can I tell you
how happy I feel
how content I am
in the present moment
here and now
with you
while also planning
our escape

Because to
escape suffering
permanently
is my only wish
especially
with you

happy
beside me

Love, the Muse

Categories
Buddhism Philosophy

Non Attachment is Renunciation

While we can happily enjoy conditions while they are good, there is no logical reason to become attached to any particular condition, because they are always changing.

All conditions, situations, people are temporary. They may last what feels like a long time or they may be brief, changing suddenly, unexpectedly, perhaps lost forever. Because when we manifest the same ‘souls’ or similar appearance in our next life, we have absolutely no recollection that we’ve lived it all before. Loved it all before. Losing it once more. And what lessons have we learned? What imprints are left?

With wisdom we can enjoy each appearance, as it arises, unattached. The end of coming is going. The end of meeting is parting. It happens all the time. All at once.

Why take anything so seriously? Life is but a dream. All we need to do to make it a happy one is create causes. By performing virtue. Sacrifice the self-cherishing, maker of all suffering. Ditch the attachment, rooted in self-grasping ignorance. Renounce samsara and all the pain it’s worth.

Stop harming others. Stop harming your self. Three deep breaths. Relax. Shake your sillies out. Volunteer. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Loosen up. Let it be. Love. Become Enlightened. Rejoice endlessly.

Categories
Poetry

The Only Constant

Different times of day yield
different colours,

Different satisfactions of experience,
clocked shadows, dancing
patches of sun

Yet your embrace
erased such time
coloured everything bright

And our discoveries seemed to
pass us by in a now faded flash

Though the memories
cling like stickseed

Only a dull heat lingers in my womb
creator of gross images,
art and stories, sometimes still of us

All while my subtle winds
carry mournful breaths, poisoned
with attachment

All while my very subtle mind
offers peaceful release, renunciation
accepted, finally

I let you go