Early this morning,
in the magical quiet
of the twilight hour,
a waking-dream appeared.
Pulled by the scent
of sacred herbs smoldering
on the altar,
I entered.
Through the doorway
of here and there,
I stepped into
the electric sepulcher,
the inner chamber
of universal mystery.
Through the silk chiffon air,
I could see silhouettes
of men and women
dressed in flowing vestiges.
They walked slowly around
wooden tables containing
musical instruments
and implements of
sacred expression.
I joined them.
Together we moved
in time, in space.
Alert and alive,
every hair sensing
the growing potential,
that pregnant swelling
before the cantor sings
the first note,
before the eastern sun
breaks the horizon,
before the lover
arches her back.
Then, it began.
The song emerged
from unknowable space,
as if the air itself was singing
through our bodies.
Softly at first,
a cappella.
Then, drums;
a slow steady pulse.
Then, exotic strings
whisper prayers
of desert valleys.
Every note,
every move,
every gesture,
every atom,
is entirely known
without knowing.
I would love to tell you more
if words would suffice.
Yet, there is another way,
if you want it.
Close your eyes
and see.
Close your ears
and listen.
Follow the swirls
of incense.
Follow the ancient song
through the threshold
of knowing
into the splendorous
temple of Being.
Here,
you are home.
Now, forget everything
that mind holds
and move with us.
Beyond Self-Pity
Self-pity gives us the sense
that we are warranted
in blaming circumstance
for our problems.
It hinges on the alluring thought
that our failures and flaws
are the fault of our abusers,
our colonizers,
our parents,
and society at large;
they are the reason
we're messed up.
Self-pity is a tight knot
that serves to ensure
that our future
is the same as our past.
To heal and transform
— to tap into our full potential —
we must break the cycle of self-pity.
For this, there is no antidote
more powerful
than renunciation
of the habit of
self-referential sense-making,
that circular trap of trying to
prove or disprove our self-worth.
“I am great”
and “I am a loser”
both arise from
the same mind habit:
Self-obsession.
Self-pity is nothing
but an action of mind
that allows the past
to dictate the future.
It is a limiting view
that perpetuates
samsaric discontentment.
We do it because we are afraid
of taking responsibility
for our inner richness,
for our power;
the power to create,
the power shape our life,
the power to write
the rest of our story.
Self-pity and self-aggrandizement
go round and round
constricting inward
until we feel frozen,
unable to sense the pulse
of life within us
and our own boundless creativity.
The whole affliction
of self-assessing,
of grasping for scraps
of so-called self-esteem,
is suffocating.
The act itself
is riddled with anxiety.
Intuitively, we know
it is game that can never
be won.
And yet,
anytime we want,
we can just stop.
This sacred stop
— a divine NO —
is what mystics call
renunciation;
a sword that cuts
the knot
of self-perpetuated
affliction.
We stop because
we don't ultimately know
why things happened
the way they did.
We stop because blame
is a dead end.
We stop because mind
can never solve to riddle
of self-esteem.
We stop because
the pain of perpetuation
is just too unbearable.
At the moment
of renunciation
a whole new world emerges.
We become single-pointedly
focused on
how to live fully
here and now.
We play in a field
of cohesive action,
and plant seeds
that decrease suffering
and increase freedom and joy.
For this to happen,
the mind has to arrive
at a new perspective,
one that represents
a wider view of cause and effect.
Whatever we repeat
will be repeated.
That's the physics of karma.
Past pains happened.
It is enough that we feel them fully;
that’s all we are responsible for.
Then, we need to live
from freshness
right now.
There is a sense
of lightness
in it,
a resilience.
As we reclaim accountability
for our lives
we make changes
that are revolutionary,
changes that transform
what happened
into what will happen.
A new chapter
in the story
is unfolding.
We are writing
that chapter
right now.
De-Bait
This poem was written after witnessing the infamous 2020 presidential debate.
. . .
For one brief moment
let us stop biting
the double-barbed hook
of division;
stop posturing
blue against red
red against blue.
For one brief moment,
let us suspend
our opinions,
take off the masks
of our race,
faith,
politics,
philosophy,
culture,
color,
age,
and gender.
For just this moment
let us set aside
our grievances,
set down our pride,
our flags,
and our weapons.
Let us unclench our fists
and unfurl our brows.
Let us retract
the pointed finger
of blame
and cease to entertain
notions of "us and them."
Temporarily,
let us place on pause
our ambitious pursuit
of position and influence.
And for one
fleeting instant in time
— right now —
let us simply stand
together
and hear the pulse
of our shared humanity,
the sound
of seven and a half billion
non-partisan hearts
beating in unison.
One-Sided Coin
Thoughts and words
don't accurately represent
living reality.
Speaking and thinking
are always one-sided.
We can only conceive
of one aspect of the story
at a time.
If night is mentioned,
day is omitted.
If sacred is emphasized,
profane is ignored.
When conservative is pointed to,
liberal is forgotten.
When a tree is in focus,
the forest is blurry.
This is because the rational mind
can only think one thought at a time.
We could try to inhibit dividing-mind
by conceptualizing it as undivided.
We could make grand ideological claims
such as, "It's all one"
and "duality is an illusion."
And we might be right.
However, we are still left
with the paradox:
me, my concepts, and the world.
Apparent separation.
Which might not be a problem,
except that it gnaws at us.
This sense of separation
makes us feel lonely,
purposeless, and dissatisfied.
We may argue
that the conundrum
can be resolved
by adopting the point of view
of oneness.
However, the moment we do this
the pesky notion of two-ness pops up.
Divided mind
is a maze of logical abstractions.
if we argue non-duality,
duality appears right next to it.
If “everything” is hinted at,
the concept of “nothing”
comes an instant later.
"It's all good," you say.
Perhaps you're correct,
but "good" has no meaning
without the existence of "bad.”
Our conceptual mind is a one-sided coin,
a coin that is always spinning, changing.
In the terminology of yoga,
this is called chitta vritti (Sanskrit "mind turbulent").
Sages discovered
a time-tested way
to avoid the trap
of allowing turbulent mind
to distort our experience
of reality.
Their invitation
involves two steps,
one surrender.
Step,
and relinquish
the assumption
that reality can be understood
and explained.
Step,
and notice the gap
between thoughts.
Let go,
fall through the gap
and land
in embodied presence.
Nourishment
A pandemic
sweeps the globe;
humanity’s
hidden fears
unearthed by
invisible intelligence.
Fire finds
the underbrush
of two centuries
of indifference
and ravages
our collective carelessness.
In the sun-obscured
blood orange
darkness,
we cough
ashes of despair
as we are forced
to face the truth
we desperately
try to mask.
If we don’t change
our ways,
we will secure
our own demise.
Somewhere
seemingly beyond reach,
politicians,
those marionettes
of greedy ghosts,
bend truth
to feed self-serving
fiscal agendas.
Profits
trump
people
and a multi-arrayed
beautiful diversity
fractures into
fictitious clans.
The startled herd
divides.
Delusion accuses delusion
and the proverbial ignorance
of “right” and “wrong”
foments hysteria,
prodding
frazzled factions
toward aggression.
Quietly,
in the hearth
of timeless wisdom,
sages silently slice
vegetables,
massage fresh herbs,
and grind fragrant spices
by mortar and pestle.
In the transparent steam
rising from their pot
myriad faces emerge.
Each one is hungry
for something.
Without words,
without bureaucratic bulletins,
without double-blind studies,
without media-repeated messages,
the sages know
what each one
needs.
Without ever
having been told,
they know.
How to heal
the stinging wound.
How to satiate
the aching hunger.
How to restore
the exquisite harmony.
Soup!
The flame of their heart
-- unmoved by external events --
does not destroy,
but simmers
and transforms.
Each sacred ingredient
becomes broth;
nourishment
for body and spirit.
Their table
is an altar.
Supper
is a ceremony
to which
every being
under the one roof
of infinite sky
is invited.
People
of every color,
shape,
size,
and creed
return home,
circle together
around the
great cauldron,
and savor life
from Source.
Constancy
Awareness
like transparent space
extends in all directions;
everywhere all at once,
nowhere in particular.
Clear.
Boundless.
Incomprehensible.
Appearances
arise and pass
like clouds
in crystal sky;
seeming to exist
then becoming something else.
Free.
Dynamic.
Ungraspable.
Awareness
self-luminous
can't be attained.
Appearances
self-resolving
can't be apprehended.
Spiritual effort
is superfluous.
Water
doesn't
strive
to be
wet.
Just
stop
struggling!
Awakening
is recognition
of what is
so-of-itself.
Already.
Always.
Feeling body;
form revealing openness.
Perceiving mind;
openness birthing form.
Our practice
is abiding
in unending
fluid
suchness.
Sit.
Stillness reveals movement.
Dance.
Movement unveils stillness.
Constancy
of spontaneous play
embodied.
Integration
Aspects of ourselves
not fully acknowledged
and embraced
remain disintegrated
from the whole.
Exiled.
Orphaned.
These orphans
suffer the pains
of rejection,
hunger,
cold,
and isolation.
Suffering feeds
a constant effort
to receive the attention,
acceptance,
and love
they deserve.
Orphans use
any means necessary
to be seen,
to survive.
Emotional affliction.
Physical dis-ease.
Relational disfunction.
Sexual dissatisfaction.
Familial disharmony.
They don't fail
at getting noticed.
Orphans are
what traditional cultures
call ghosts.
Not the ill-conceived creatures
of cartoons and horror movies,
but the spiritual fragments
left outside the circle
of our personal and collective
embrace.
Disintegrated aspects of self.
Sincere practice
is a process
of welcoming
the orphans
home.
Integration.
It all starts
Here
in the body
in the Vital Center,
as we fully engage
with all Nine Petals
of our life.
Undulation
The living moment
is a writhing wildness,
a pulsation
that commands full attention
defies categories
and evades logical entrapment.
Our mind-net can catch concepts like fish
but never the ocean itself.
No, she is ungraspable.
Undeniable.
Unstoppable.
The living moment moves like a wave
that can never be tamed,
like a serpent
that makes us feel at once
transfixed and unnerved.
She is simultaneously
what we most deeply yearn for
and what we fear most.
Naked presence.
Unbridled aliveness.
The Mystery.
Gripped by fear
and blinded by ignorance,
we try to avoid her,
control her,
cage her,
suppress her.
But she eats misguided strategies for lunch.
That which is everywhere always
cannot be grasped,
cannot be bound,
cannot be diminished.
She is not an object,
not a thing.
Yet, no-thing is not nothing.
Emptiness is not a vacancy
but a fertile womb
giving birth
to undulating vibrancy
every moment.
To resist this living procession
is to become ridged,
frozen,
orphaned.
To awaken and embody
means to arrive Here
in the ever-unfolding Now
to participate fully in ecstatic presence,
to live within the undulating waves
rippling through earth
water
wind
space
spine
blood
bones.
Happy Feet
Embodied Presence starts with consciously standing on our own two feet. The feet are the essential foundation of the human body and our connection to Earth. The feet contain about one-quarter of the total number of bones in the body. One foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 ligaments, muscles, and tendons.
The foot is a complex structure that facilitates a highly nuanced range of felt experience. The feet, along with the hands, mouth, and genitals are some of the most sensitive areas of the body. With more than 7000 nerve endings, each foot gathers information about terrain, temperature, balance, and coordination. The feet work in harmony with the central nervous system to optimize systemic function. Natural alignment and stimulation of the feet benefits the whole body, including the function of all the internal organs.
Two of the most effective ways to encourage dynamic alignment and healthy function of the feet are barefoot walking and self-massage of the feet. Walking and practicing movement arts barefoot will stimulate the natural intelligence of the feet. What might take many hours to learn from a teacher will start to occur naturally. Namely, the bones of the feet will begin to spread and the natural arches of the foot—transverse and longitudinal—will wake up. The strength and sensitivity of the feet will come alive and the life-supporting current of vital energy will flow more smoothly from Earth into the body.
Awakening the feet enlivens Presence through the whole body.
The saying “to have both feet on the ground” is both literal and metaphoric. Literally, it means actually feeling the ground beneath one’s feet. We might say such a person is actively standing. Embodied. Metaphorically, the saying implies that such a person is in touch with reality, engaged with the circumstance of now, through the feeling body. Conversely, one who has “their head in the clouds” clearly does not have “both feet on the ground.” Such a person tends to live in the head and dissociate from embodied experience. This may be the result of trauma, injury, or conditioning; often a combination of the three. The path of healing is a process of re-inhabiting our bodies, learning to feel again, and remembering our place in the web of life.
We can let our feet show us the way.
Happy feet, happy human.
Stillness in Motion
Stillness and movement are relative. For example, in sitting meditation, we keep the body relatively still. This means we don’t intentionally move the limbs or adjust our posture once we’re settled. However, inside this stillness, there are many layers of movement. The diaphragm is moving up and down. The breath is moving in and out. The heart is pumping. The blood is moving through the vessels. The idea is to allow the inborn rhythms of movement to happen naturally by releasing tension and softening within. Through the structure of relative stillness, we become more aware of elements of movement that we might not otherwise experience.
There are ever-deepening layers of subtlety to this process; all the way down to our ability to feel the pulsation of Universal Life vibrating within, animating our bodymind.
On the other hand, during exercises that involve movement of the limbs, we can notice a sense of stillness inside motion. It is through the open quality of pure awareness that we have this sense. In walking, for example, we can have the feeling of stillness behind motion. The body moves, but there is something still about the whole dynamic, as if the Center remains unmoving and the four limbs coordinate around this stillness.
There are ever-deepening layers of subtlety to this process as well. As our practice of somatic presence evolves, we may begin to sense that the entire motion of the bodymind happens inside an open field of stillness. We conventionally say that the mind is inside the body. Yet, at a certain point, we come to experience that, in fact, the body is inside the mind.
This mind is not the rational thinking apparatus inside the cranium. It is the borderless spaciousness containing everything that appears. As we come to recognize this location-less "I" we feel "everything moves in me."
This is what I call the Clearbright; the undivided boundless ground of Being.
Through our practices of movement and stillness, we cultivate the sensitivity needed to become familiar with this original clear bright nature of our own being which is Universal Nature itself.
Invitation
There is another Way.
It is not built on aggression,
struggle
and conflict.
Together
we can enter
into spontaneous openness;
a new kind of relationship.
No matter what arises,
let it rest
in uncontrived bare essence.
Relinquish
the habit
of trying to improve everything,
especially yourself.
There is no need
to tamper with
the natural perfection
of things.
The sacred is.
This.
Here.
Now.
Respond sincerely.
Thoughts, emotions, sensations, memories, dreams;
each arise from the matrix of inexplicable openness,
last for a short duration,
then dissolve
into their own ground.
See clearly
how the multifarious appearances
self-resolve,
how pristine awareness embraces all things
with unwavering acceptance.
Free of hopes and hard intentions,
relax into aimless Being.
Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down,
remain simply as you are.
Already and always
whole.
Intimate Embrace
Our practice
is about tending
to the naked flesh
of immediate experience.
It's about feeling.
It's about relatedness;
a direct approach
to touch the heart
of our humanity
and uncover
the jewel of self-existing dignity.
The practice is open
to all who dare
to welcome
the totality of their own situation.
It calls to those who feel
an inner yearning,
to those who have heard
the silent roar
of their own spirit
and can no longer postpone
its attendance.
There are no prerequisites.
No secret teachings.
No levels of attainment.
No certificates.
The door is wide open.
Each of us starts
precisely where we are
with self-honesty
and willingness
to feel our immediate condition.
Within the circumstances of our everyday life,
we discover direct access
to innate wisdom.
We come to understand
the suchness of things
as-they-are
and uncover a hidden sanctuary
of enjoyment and aliveness
ever-present
and always accessible.
Terrestrial Body
Climb down
from the teetering tower
of abstractions.
Step back
from that faintly tangible blur
of conceptual mirages.
Swing down
and plant the seeds of your feet
into the damp fertile earth
where your true life might take root
and blossom
into something sensual
and magnificent.
Take refuge Here
in this physical body
where life,
in all of its brilliance,
is flourishing.
Arrive fully Here,
in the flesh
of direct experience.
Feel the electrical pulsation of synapses.
Feel the responsive twitching of sinews.
Feel the rushing rivers of plasma.
Feel the pulmonary breeze of breath.
Feel the four-chambered concerto
of cardiac rhythm.
Take refuge within the animal,
within the wilderness
of muscles and bones.
Nestle in among the elements,
spread out amid the changing winds.
Find your home Here
between the pattering droplets of rain
and the composting of fallen trees.
Rest for a while
under the puffy blanket
of clouds.
Plant the seed of your presence
deep in the soil of your terrestrial body.
It is here that life nourishes.
Hands
The hands are a source of tremendous power.
With such profound dexterity, sensitivity, and utility the human hands may be one of our most defining features as a species. Playing guitar, delivering a baby, knitting a sweater, building a house, wielding a sword, painting intricate figures: through the use of our hands we create and shape the world we live in.
Hands can heal, hands can harm.
One touch can convey a wide array of thoughts, feelings or intentions. Hands tell the story of our mood or state of mind. When we feel angry, a clenched fist. When anxious, fidgeting fingers. Even plants and animals respond to the subtle nuances of our touch.
With the hands playing such a central role in our experience of being human, it comes as no surprise that many of the world’s great spiritual and artistic traditions have considered the hands as sacred. With five digits, twenty-seven bones, and fifteen joints—plus numerous carpal joints affording articulation of the wrist—the human hand is a masterpiece of nature.
Perhaps, this is why many cultures throughout history viewed the human hand as a perfect microcosm of the universe. For example, the shaman kings (Wu) of ancient times viewed all things in the animated world as emanations of the changing relationship between five fundamental principals (commonly referred to as the Five Elements): Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal. They viewed the human hand as one of the most poignant examples of these five principals, with each of the fingers representing one the Five Elements (Earth/thumb, Metal/index, Water/little, Wood/ring, and Fire/middle). These relationships, and the character of each finger based on the theory of Five Elements, is woven into the philosophy and practice of all the traditional arts: calligraphy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, astrology, martial arts, cha dao (tea culture), classical music, dance, and theater.
In many of these arts, specific hand positions and gestures are used in relationship to the precise effect desired by the practitioner. For example, a healer-shaman might instruct a patient suffering from worry to tuck her thumbs into her palms and hold them firmly. Since the thumb relates to Earth, closing the other fingers around it creates an energetic seal, a mudra, which imparts a sense of safety and stability, thus reducing anxiety.
In Asian calligraphy, the brush is held firmly with the thumb, index, middle, and ring finger while the little finger is tucked slightly in and not used. This is in an effort to conserve the energy of the kidneys (Water), giving the calligrapher a certain vitality that can be seen in the qi of their brush strokes.
In everyday life, our hands convey the art of living through the articulation of five fingers. We give "thumbs up" to a driver who lets us merge onto the freeway (or the "middle finger" to a driver who doesn't). We connect with the objects, plants, animals, and humans around us through our hands and fingers.
Perhaps now more than ever -- during this time of distancing and sheltering -- we need the power of our hands to stay in touch with the essence of life and continue to relate in meaningful ways.
We can enliven presence through touch in many ways: in our self-care practice, while cooking, doing dishes, gardening, petting animals, running our hands through sand, or making contact with loved ones.
The secret to awakening the power of our hands is feeling.
Under Control
From an early age, many of our physical-emotional responses to life's events have been placed under control. The process of social molding starts the moment we are born, perhaps before. As babies and children, our raw physical-emotional expressions are often regulated by the expectations of those around us.
We've all heard lines like,
"Don't' be sad."
"Stop crying."
"You'd better stop that tantrum or I'll give you something to cry about."
The older and larger unknowingly press the younger and smaller to conform to social norms.
This causes a back up of unexpressed emotions and a sense that it is wrong to feel.
The process continues until the individual has fully internalized the top-down control mechanism. Then, it is our own conditioned gatekeeping mind that tries to keep everything under control.
Body, emotions, children, viruses, nature itself.
Yet, none of these can actually be controlled.
Life is wild.
Take emotions, for example.
There is no such thing as a negative emotion.
Emotions are currents of energy that arise through contact with sensory experience. Emotions, like all appearances, are part of life's great river of change. They come in every size, shape, and color. Some are intense, others subtle. Some enduring, others fleeting. Emotions can be heavy, light, hot, cold, explosive, stifling, ecstatic. There might be as many shades of emotion as there are people who feel them.
Emotions themselves know of no hierarchy, no segregation. They don't need to be corrected, reformed or exorcised.
Emotions need to be felt. They need our genuine attention and presence.
All of them.
When emotions are felt, they are completed. Once completed, they self-resolve. Yet, when emotions get labeled as "negative," they get suppressed and trapped in the body. A heaviness ensues; the back-log of unresolved life experience carried in the flesh.
It is our collective habit of dualistic fixation that artificially imposes the labels of "positive" and "negative" onto our emotional experience. All too often, we carve life up into little pieces, set the parts against each other, and invent conflict where none exists. All of this is an act of rejection of life, ourselves, and each other.
And it causes us great suffering.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
Each emotion is equally valid and self-liberating. Like clouds in the sky, emotions arise and dissolve of their own accord. We can simply drop the compulsive habit of labeling emotions, and take up the practice of befriending and feeling them. When we do this, something radical happens. We return to our humanity. There is more space inside. We are infused with the energy of emotions without being overcome by them. It's as if a rushing current is moving through us.
Nothing gets stuck.
Each new moment is fresh and rich.
We can come out from under the tyranny of control.
It's a matter of recognizing habituated ways of being. Then, choosing to return to the primal wisdom of our own nature and Nature itself.
Mending
It's a perfect time to focus on mending.
Clothes, household tools and appliances, friendships, and familial relationships could all use a little tender loving care right now.
Mending is an art.
It starts with seeing the world around us as less disposable than consumer society would have us believe.
We can take something that is old, chipped, cracked, or unraveling and attend to it so that it becomes more beautiful and functional than before.
In Japan, the art of visible mending textiles is called Sashiko, and art of mending pottery is called Kintsugi ("golden joinery").
Instead of buying a new sweater, we can pull out the sewing kit and mend those holes so diligently chewed by hungry moths.
Instead of buying a new broom, we can head into the tool shed and find a creative way of restoring functionality.
Instead of leaving heart-felt words unspoken, we can reach out to old friends or family members and heal past misunderstandings.
The art of mending has myriad applications.
In these times of sheltering (during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020), we have an opportunity to get back to wholesome practices that use our hearts and hands to enrich life, fortify connection, and restore our humanity.
Profound Simplicity
There is an old saying in yogic traditions, "Mastery is found in simplicity."
In times of unforeseen change and uncertainty, this teaching is a powerful reminder for us to return to the basics and rely on three essential foundations:
Continuity and repetition
When we practice a little each day, at the same time, in the same place, there is a subtle build-up of safety and solidity. We may get bored doing the same tried-and-true practices again and again, but repetition is the secret of adepts. It is easy to let the wanting mind run after a new and shiny system or activity every few months. Yet, this can disperse the power hidden within the process of digging deep into the foundations of our practices.
As my teachers always said, "Ten thousand times and you will understand."
Simplicity
With continuity and repetition, the mind no longer has to wonder what it needs to focus on. Then, we can simply slide into the practice and be-flow more than do-think. This is why adhering to a simple and potent daily practice is so quietly powerful.
Don't underestimate the effectiveness of simple things like shaking, gentle joint opening, self-massage, simple yoga poses, meditation, sun exposure, moon-gazing, and prayer.
Feeling
Feeling is where the rubber meets the road in self-cultivation.
With continuity and simplicity working for us, we can drop deeper into our embodied experience of the practice. This felt-sense aspect of our practice is what it is all about. Here is where we savor the lived experience of spirit embodied. If
If it feels soothing, supportive, nourishing, and delicious, it's probably the right practice for the moment.
Transition
Yesterday evening,
after a day of teaching,
I hiked alone
up to the lookout
in the hills above my house.
Dry leaves
on the old walnut tree
smoldered
in the crimson light
and the already changing foliage
of a few species of plants
whispered of autumn to come.
As the western sky
enveloped the sun,
a swollen full moon
ascended silently
in the eastern expanse.
I stood transfixed
amid the transition.
How wonderful
to simply appreciate
the interludes,
savor the spaces in between,
and stay in rhythm
with the magical way
everything
becomes
something
else.
Leisure and love
Summer is the time
for leisure and love.
Unabashed indulgence
in nourishing pleasure
is medicine
for body, mind, and spirit.
Wholesome enjoyment
heals us in so many ways:
Make love at dawn
(with yourself or a partner)
to the songs of birds.
Cook a gourmet breakfast
just the way you like it.
Disappear into that fantastic book
for endless hours.
Travel whimsically
to places that inspire
wonder and awe.
Swim in cool natural waters
and remember
the purity of life.
Bask in the delicious shade
of grand old trees.
Drink the golden elixir of sunset
through your eyes and skin.
Curl into un-rushed afternoon naps
and awaken later
with rosewater spritz.
Dine outdoors
under the royal blue canopy
of infinite sky.
Dance to live music
played by passionate artists
who can't stop smiling.
Practice, at least for a time,
the wonderful art
of being un-productive
and doing nothing at all.
Insubstantiality
Nothing stays intact
indefinitely.
All Appearances,
without exception,
disintegrate
and become
something else.
Thoughts,
sensations,
emotions,
intuitions,
dreams,
relationships,
possessions,
cells,
organisms,
planets,
stars,
solar systems;
all impermanent.
The natural law
of impermanence
is not tragic.
It's magic.
The wonder
of Appearances
is that they do not
endure;
morning fog,
an afternoon rainbow,
a butterfly.
Now here, now gone.
As we understand
the insubstantiality
of Appearances,
spiritual maturity
dawns.
Meditation
might be
nothing more than
abiding
in self-resolving simplicity,
resting
in the uncontrived state
of innate wholeness
with nothing to gain
and nothing to lose.