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
06.17.24
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
06.16.24
Not So Empty
Emptiness is form; nothing has nothing in it, like air in a jar. Saying the jar owns that air is a foolish way to think.
Form is emptiness; nothing has something to it that is not alone. Thinking one jar’s empty space stops at its rim is silly.
16 JUN 2024
06.13.24
Seasoning
Time knows no season; Spring doesn’t turn to Summer in just one moment. The now is all that exists. You cannot measure its span.
Life did not begin; it is always here and now. It is infinite. Before you take the next breath, let your lungs taste it.
13 JUN 2024
06.13.24
Shikantaza
Who is just sitting?
It is not me, or is it,
here on the cushion.
Who is asking the question?
Nobody really knows that.
13 JUN 2024
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This Moment of Now
In a moment’s span
life expands to fill the void;
a flower blooming
is a gentle breath of air:
earth and sky come together.
04 JUN 2024
06.5.17
Rainbows and sunshine: tanka
This note may be dark,
but it reflects the weather.
Besides, too much light
fades color from everything.
What a gray world that would make!
Rainbows and sunshine
do not help the whole world grow.
There must be dark storms
to fuel life at its deep roots,
build jungles out of deserts.
Seeing only good
is merely self-hypnosis;
dark and light exist
in equal measure out there.
Why persist out of balance?
05 JUN 2017
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