Tag Archive | Zen

Embodying Stillness

Nov2

Meditation By The Sea

If you go to visit a Zen monastery,
Where they call meditation ‘sitting,’ one may ask
“How long you have been sitting? I’ve been sitting for
A few decades or so.” “Doesn’t you butt get sore?”,
May be one’s response who is not up to the task
Of doing the work that is most necessary.

Sitting in meditation, one is familiar
With a method, but don’t confuse it with the state
You are in while you’re doing it. Meditation
Is a state of pure presence. You can be at one
With the universe, and you do not have to wait
To become more aware of who you really are.

The method is designed to facilitate the
State of consciousness, but at some point every one
Must be dropped so that you can be right in that place
Of immaculate presence. Its welcome embrace
Is available to you through meditation.
Method is simply the way of coming to be.

One evolves to the point where no method at all
Becomes necessary to be in alignment.
If you get too attached to your method, then you
Will defeat your intention. What you may go through
To get there may be subject to some refinement.
It cannot be for you an impossible call.

The Secret

Sep21

Classified Knowledge

You Can’t Make A Mistake. That’s it in a nutshell.
In fact, it’s quite impossible to get it wrong.
You know naturally how your life should unfold,
But society says you must do as your told.
It’s a game we’ve created. We all play along
Not knowing in the long run it makes us unwell.

You are told that you may make mistakes or may not.
It’s a conscious decision once you know the rules.
You must do the right things at the right times and be
Submissive to societal authority.
You are one of the many magnificent fools
Of a culture caught up in a sinister plot.

From childhood we are told of three separate tiers
Of people – top, middle, and bottom. No one can
Exist without the other two. Everybody
Tries to get to the top one unsuccessfully.
There’s the notion that some people are better than
Others, and it’s the basis of most of our fears.

In a constant state of competition we are.
Getting on top of things is our grand obsession.
In another direction you may want to go
As the boredom and signs of ill health start to show.
The game is a problem without a solution.
Once you’ve reached this conclusion you’ve come very far.

Learn To Swim

Sep7

You Will Survive The Move

A few words may be said about learning to swim
And the nature of water. The truth to be told
Is that no doctrine saves you from going under.
Everything that you had learned is cast asunder
When abruptly thrown in. If you try to grab hold
Of something then survival is looking quite grim.

The nature of water we must know from the start.
There’s nothing to hang on to. It is transient,
Everchanging and fluid. The whole universe
Is an aqueous substance in which we immerse.
Words, ideas, and concepts will often prevent
A healthy understanding. We then fall apart.

In the waters of modern philosophical
Confusion where God is dead and meaningless are
Metaphysical propositions, we survive
Or we drown, so in keeping consciousness alive,
Intellect is the net that we cast wide and far
To catch fish of reality. It’s logical.

In this universe there is one great energy.
We have given names to it, but none will suffice.
So to swim we must let go and give ourselves to
The enveloping substance of life. When we do
We will find that the sea of life does something nice.
It will make us buoyant and lift us to safety.

A Programmed Life

Dec14

The Nature Of Balance

Is a lightning flash bad because it only lives
But for just a brief moment compared to the sun
Which goes on for some eons? This question absurd
Illustrates programmed error. The damage incurred
Is to not see that both are contingently one.
Can it be that self-consciousness rarely forgives?

Long lived creatures and short lived belong to the same
World with flowering branches that naturally
Have enormous life spans. Encouraged behavior
Of nature is spontaneous and is most pure
In the ways it expresses its strong will To Be,
And in doing so it has no feelings of shame.

Self-possessed or a dithering personal mess
And embarrassed because of rigid programing,
It’s a rush just to get home for dinner on time.
Traffic accidents are cause by this mental crime.
To schedules quite impossible some people cling
Punctuality fetishes amount to stress.

Time is not of the essence. Hell or high water
Is an innocently uttered lethal cliché.
Take the time to know balance and true clarity.
When the student is ready it’s easy to see
The lessons of the teacher and the proper way
To behave among others as all would prefer.