Be Here Now, Or Don’t Be
Think about this, now:
being here right here, there is no
being somewhere else.
What you “want” doesn’t matter;
wish in one hand, as they say.
If you choose elsewhere
as the place where you must be,
you’re not here at all.
And where does that choice leave you?
Just where did you leave yourself?
Take a minute to check:
you’re either right here and now,
or you’re not, at all.
If you think too long about it,
you’ve wasted another now.
25 JUL 2024
Zazen
Breathing in and out
Isn’t just for the cushion;
It’s the entire thing.
If you practice just sitting,
This moment is everywhere.
Try to stop breathing,
And your attention can’t last;
You are mind and body.
Pretending at something else
Requires a lot of thinking.
Everything you do
Requires breathing in and out;
It’s all important.
So everything is sacred,
And that is also empty.
21 JUL 2024
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Well then there now…
What’s happening now
is all there is of what’s left
in your warranty.
If this was your life’s last act,
how would you be remembered?
Don’t put anything off;
put all of your energy
into everything.
You only have this minute.
What else are you waiting for?
11 JUL 2024
06.27.24
The Same Breath
So many choices
in a moment’s tiny span;
is it destiny?
No matter your direction,
the path will stay beneath you.
The door is open.
You stand at a great threshold;
which way do you move?
There is just air on both sides.
Never take the same breath twice.
27 JUN 2024
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Prajnaparamita
With what great faculty would you describe
a something that is nothing in itself –
an emptiness that does not rise or fall,
but is and isn’t, both, at the same time,
and lights, but doesn’t land, adrift in time
(which is not quite a ribbon, nor a wheel),
a thought that thinking has no way to grasp
or shape into a solid universe.
Beyond, beyond, beyond what is beyond;
if you can see it, do not trust your eyes.
25 JUN 2024
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Solstice
Look: for a minute
the light takes over dark
as the great wheel turns.
Then, in the next span of now,
the shadow always grows back.
There must be balance
in our illusion of two –
no up without down,
until we are reconciled
beyond the borders of form.
21 JUN 2024
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The Tuition of Wisdom
True knowledge is free;
it grows like roadside flowers.
Who can afford it?
The trick is letting it go
so it can keep blossoming.
Paying tuition
at such a school is so hard:
you owe attention.
You can’t write a check for that;
your life is not accounting.
17 JUN 2024
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