Category: buddhist

Once I would have given myself apples.

Apples for comfort, apples for solace.

I would have poured from a flagon honeyed wine.

IWine to soothe my troubled dreams, wine to soothe my sorrow.

I would have held these dear and kept them close

So not to dwell upon the morrow.

Had someone sought my counsel,

These would have been my most precious gifts to offer.

Now I seek not that provision, nor do I store such to bestow.

Good thing this, for the fruit trees stand withered; the wine casks sit cracked and sere.

All I have to show, to myself as well as others, is a cupboard made empty.

“Inhale the lingering scent of sweet memory, then let it go on the breath.”

See this changed storage made into an altar:

A mala strung with apple seeds rests beside copper bowls filled with water

A small bunch of grapes beside these, and the aroma of incense floats in the air.

What peace do I find before these? What boon to give, if someone asks?

What do I carry when I go

I’ve emptied my heart a vestigial remnant

Thrown it to wind

It entangles in the branches of a tree

A squirrel uses it to cache winter’s nuts

Useful for something

It weighed me down with grief

I’ve emptied my mind a burdensome illusion

Left it beside the road

It splinters into glittery shreds

A crow uses one to search for grubs

Useful for something

It lead me astray in confusion

Those two the heaviest items

I walk more easy

No love hate other distractions

No memories dreams other falsehoods

With each step I discard more

Dropping eyes ears tongue

Followed by head hands arms legs torso

I am nothing now going still

Then going then nothing then

Still

The deep tone of a singing bowl fades away.

A man lifts his head to hear, exhales, and is no more.

A woman pauses her moans, inhales, and gives birth.

The rain falls steadily, and this road flows with water.

Death juggles skulls, as reality itself fractures and cracks.

All below, hand in hand, dance in and out of life.

The wheel of sharp weapons turns, turns, and turns again.

Lay down on the verdant hillside.

This is also a grave.

As you spread out your limbs,

Light runs from your fingers and toes

To intertwine with tree roots.

These glowing threads bind you to the earth,

Together with sun’s slanting rays

Filtered through the branches overhead.

Beneath you scarabs move in the dirt,

Tapping down a deathwatch

With a promise to turn your bones to gold.

Fear not and still your mind.

Death and life are one and the same.

A soft breeze flows over the grass.

Bird sing their melodious song.

This day will never end.

Supine in corpse pose.

I close my eyes and count my breaths.

In, out. In, out. In, out.

One by one, my bones leave my body.

They hover disjointed in the air.

Other bones appear.

All begin a caper mad and whirl in abandon.

The universe is nothing but dancing skeletal relics.

Then comes a singe clap.

All motion ceases. The bones dissolve.

Only radiant light remains

And the fading crackle of a death rattle.

One rain drop.

Immobile, suspended in the sky.

An invitation for those who dare.

From its expanse a black monkey with spidery limbs

Climbs out to clamber in the moment,

Wildly dancing and throwing leaves.

The water from which it emerged

Hangs for brief eternity, serene and still.

These two, the unchanged bead and the frenzied beast,

Are the same to open eyes.

I close my hand around each,

Put them in the pocket of my coat,

And trudge down the wet tarmac road.

Stay away from the gaps.

I consider these words then intentionally

Step into the in between.

A bird flies on the wing; a branch sways in the wind.

I hear the sharp notes of a violin, the warning whistle of the noon train.

Where are these things In the halt from inhale to exhale?

Snap your fingers, and they are gone.

I am not here. I am not there. I am not.

I come now to the end.

The harness that binds me fast to the cart

Of this changing world has loosened.

I glance backwards once

To glimpse the detritus of my life lived:

The tattered loves, shopworn dreams, and bitter hopes.

Turning, I shrug off the fraying bonds

And step away from all I’ve held, such a dear heavy burden.

Lighter and with an easier breath,

I laugh, snap my fingers, and disappear.