Friday, December 31, 2010

an apple

I shine an apple,
A gift for my blind teacher,
I take a big bite.

Cold and Hot

A monk asked Tozan “ How can we escape the cold and heat?” Tozan replied “Why not go where there is no cold and heat?” “Is there such a place?” the monk asked.  Tozan commented, “When cold, be thoroughly cold; when hot, be hot through and through.”

The world in which we, these bodies, live is a place of dissatisfaction. We are to hot or to cold, to thin or to fat, to young or to old. We strive for perfection, fight and dig our way to the top of given situations only to find that, once there, we are not fulfilled.  As the Heart Sutra says:

Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form.
Sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness, are likewise like this.

When we are involved a given drama of life we need to be in it thoroughly, and then let it go. Clinging is what gives rise to suffering. When you are cold be cold, when you are hot be hot. Do not cling to the cold or hot just be. Do not cling to the drama live it and let it go. Become the master of your life not the servant.  

Thus the bodhisattva lives Prajna Paramita,
with no hindrance in the mind; no hindrance therefore no fear.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

New Years

Ah the end of another year and a new beginnings. The story that I’m reminded of is one that I read at the sangha last night.

Ummon said” I do not ask you about fifteen days ago. But what about fifteen days hence? Come say a word about this!” Since none of the monks answered, he answered "Every day is a good day."

How true, that we live our lives dwelling on past events that we cannot change and a future that, is as well equally impossible to act upon. While it is true that we can make plans for future happenings, the reality is that what we plan for can easily fall apart like a sand sculpture at the beach. While we need to plan and set goals for ourselves we also need to realize that this day, this moment, we are living will never come again. On realizing this we must put the effort forth to live it to the fullest. I love how this is put in the evening gatha.



Let me respectfully remind you,
Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes by, and opportunity is lost.
Each of us should strive to awaken.
Awaken!
Take heed: do not squander your life.

Be aware of moments that can change your life or the lives of others. Act on these and I can guarantee that your life will be richer and more full for it.   

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The Book, thoughts on a new year

Staring through the window as the rain turns to ice
The trees are bare and have a lonely look
I remember lost moments of my life
As I prepare to write a new chapter in the book

Snow

I see the beauty
In the flakes of falling snow
Like stars drifting down

How does fear stand in the way

How does fear stand in the way of our compassion? Do I fear that if I talk to or aid an obviously homeless person that, that act will cause that person to bond to me and I will be forever responsible for that person? Fear will cause a paralysis in our soul. We can fear being to loving, to gentle, to angry, to aggressive, to meek, to mild. Fear will cause us to procrastinate doing the spiritual work that we know is in our best interest. Fear of success and fear of failure are two sides of the same coin. To allow our compassion to grow we must overcome the fear that dwells within each of us.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Driving (haiku)

Driving in the rain,
Thinking of a time gone by,
Looking for the now.

Life is so beautiful

Life is so beautiful and unique even if we ignore the eternal and dwell in the material. Just think how unique each of us are. There are thousands of sperm to fertilize an egg each would create a special individual. Then there is the meeting of our biological parents and their parents before them. Back this goes through countless generations. Then enter ego’s, feelings, emotions and such into the mix of how our lives are shaped and guided. Each of us on their own journey and the paths that cross and the lives effected. Our world and our existence is a true full blown miracle.

What do we do?

What do we do when we see someone drowning? Of course the answer is to try to help then. The dilemma comes when the person refuses to accept the fact that they are drowning. Then there comes that other rub, there are thousands of people in the same condition and we ourselves are in the water up to our necks. What do we do? A simple answer is to teach people to swim better. After (of course) we learn how to ourselves. This is what our practice is about learning how to swim in the ocean of illusion. Only then can we save others and usually only when they want to be saved. Until then love people and feed people either materially or spiritually (or both).

Fall

The sun is slower to wake up in the morning
The Trees are turning a darker shade of green
At the bazaars the merchants have changed their colors
To oranges and golds
Another fall is coming toward us
Waves coming toward the beach

New Year

The silence plays on my ears like an orchestra
Ghosts linger to the right and left just out of sight
The lights play on the snow reminiscent of fairies dancing
Twirling and twisting on through the night
Another Christmas is upon me
And the Start of a new year

Faith

White cold and buried
Frozen sparkles dancing in the sun
Never late never hurried
By faith alone we know spring will come

To Dream

Now can I dream of you
Can you become real to me
You dance through my mind as a fairy dances on a breeze
Remembering you brings painful joy to my heart
All I can ask for, all that I hope
Is that age does not steal the memory of you
From me

Time

Minutes into hours into day into years
Hunger into need into greed into tears
Longing into wanting into grasping
We spend our time like money
That comes from an account
Into which we can make no deposits.

A song of winter

Watching the clouds dancing the bright blue tango in the sky,
Dreaming of the warmth of sunshine and longer days.
The trees like naked dancers in the wind,
Tossing their arms to and fro,
Soon the winter solstice will bring back the sun to me.