A meditation bracelet of 12 turtle beads

Dhamma wheel
Remove one bead or sever the cord and a 12-bead meditation bracelet it is no more.
“... suppose that this great earth were to be an ocean upon which a single yoke were being tossed about by the wind and thus being moved from here to there. And suppose if under that ocean there were a blind turtle, do you think it would be easy for it to insert its head into that yoke when it rises to the surface only once every hundred years? In a similar fashion it is extremely hard to obtain the human state.”

From Bodhicharyavatara

May I, for the sake of all beings, be ever mindful of intent to develop perfect renunciation for bodhicitta (awakening mind) of prajnaparamita (perfect wisdom).

Buddha Shakyamuni

om soham (x4)

In the ti-sarana (three refuges) of Buddha, Dhamma, and Shangha,  I seek refuge…

  1. buddham saranam gacchati (… intent upon going) 
  2. dhammam saranam gacchati
  3. sangham saranam gacchati
  4. buddham saranam gacchāmi (… I go)
  5. dhammam saranam gacchāmi
  6. sangham saranam gacchāmi
  7. dutiyampi buddham saranam gacchāmi (a second time…)
  8. dutiympi dhammam saranam gacchāmi
  9. dutiyampi sangham saranam gacchāmi
  10. tatiyampi buddham saranam gacchāmi (a third time…)
  11. tatiyampi dhammam saranam gacchāmi
  12. tatiyampi sangham saranam gacchāmi

As to take refuge in the three jewels is to give refuge, with intent to give refuge, I go…

  1. Without hate as the aim,
  2. Without greed as the aim,
  3. Without illusion as the aim,
  4.  Without hate as the way,
  5. Without greed as the way,
  6. Without illusion as the way, 
  7. Giving reverence to the many before,
  8. Giving reverence to the many after,
  9. Giving reverence to the many teachers of the path
  10. Giving reverence to the many who assist on the path  
  11. Giving reverence to the many who share the path
  12. Giving reverence to the one who reveled the path 

I give reverence to Buddha Shakyamuni, the Perfectly Enlightened One, and his twelve principle deeds…

  1. descent from celestial Tushita 
  2. entrance into mother’s womb
  3. birth
  4. mastery of worldly arts and skills 
  5.  enjoyment of his consorts
  6. renunciation of worldly ways
  7. endurance of severe physical penances
  8. mediation under the Bodhi Tree  
  9. overcoming the the forces of mara
  10. attainment of Buddhahood
  11. turning the wheel of dharma
  12. entrance into peaceful parinirvana  

May I realize the causes and consequences of  paticca-samuppāda (dependent origination)…

  1. avijja (ignorance) from which arises
  2. sankhārā (karma formations) from which arises
  3. viññãna (consciousness) from which arises
  4. nãma-rūpa (name and form or mind and body) from which arises           
  5. salãyatana (six bases) from which arises
  6. phassa (impressions) from which arises
  7. vedanā (feelings) from which arises
  8. tanjā (cravings) from which arises
  9. upādāna (clinging) from which arises
  10. bhava (process of becoming) from which arises 
  11. jāti (rebirth-process) from which arises 
  12. jarā-marana (old age and death

May I be ever conscious of ariya-sacca (the noble truths) [1-4] and the eightfold path [5-12]… 

  1. dukkha (truth of suffering)
  2. tanhā (truth of attachment)
  3. nirodha (truth of renunciation)
  4. magga (truth of the path):
  5. sammā-ditthi (right view)
  6. sammā-sankappa (right intent)
  7. sammā-vacca (right speech)
  8. sammā-kammanta (right action)
  9. sammā-ājīva (right livelihood)
  10. sammā-vāyāma (right effort)
  11. sammā-sati (right mindfulness)
  12. sammā-samādhi (right concentration)

May I be diligent toward the paramitas (the six perfections) [1-6] for sake of all beings in the six realms of cyclic existence [7-12]… 

  1. Perfection of generosity 
  2. Perfection of ethical discipline 
  3. Perfection of patience 
  4. Perfection of perseverance or joyous effort
  5. Perfection of meditative concentration
  6. Perfection of wisdom (prajnaparamita) 
  7. For all beings of the deva realm (celestials)…
  8. …the asura realm (demi-gods)…
  9. … the human realm… 
  10. … the animal realm… 
  11. … the hungry ghost realm… 
  12. … the hells

May I develop determination toward attainment of the three principle aspects of the path for the sake of all beings and their bliss… 

  1. I take refuge in the buddha
  2. I take refuge in the dhamma 
  3. I take refuge in the shangha 
  4. desiring to develop perfected renunciation
  5. desiring to develop perfected bodhicitta and loving kindness
  6. desiring to develop perfected wisdom of emptiness 
  7. of the dharmakaya (empty or true body)
  8. of the  sambhogakaya (enjoyment body)
  9. of the  nirmanakaya (emanation body)
  10. so all beings may be without hate
  11. so all beings may be without greed
  12. so all beings may be without illusion and so free

May I be ever mindful of altruistic intent and of true buddha nature. and meditate on the…  

  1. … left principle channel…
  2. … right principle channel…
  3. … center principal channel…
  4. … chakra A…
  5. … chakra HUM…
  6. … chakra OM…
  7. … chakra  HAM…
  8. … the enlightenment family of Vairocana…
  9. … enlightenment family of Akshobhya…
  10. …. enlightenment family of Ratnasambhava…
  11. … enlightenment family of Amitabha…
  12. … enlightenment family of Amoghasiddhi…

Namo Gurubhāya
Namo Buddhāya
Namo Dharmāya
Namo Sanghāya (x3)

May I take on defeat and offer victory. 

om vajrasattva hum
om mani padme hum

Spell casting

What was one concealed, 
    The mysteries of the cosmos,
    The aspiring mystikos
To self would reveal. 

Conscious that there is only one religious source, self, and that outward displays of one’s religious observances are but metaphor of inner observance, creed.

Deathless Dead Duck

A fourth of the flock, 
By the three forgot,
Near night’s opened door,
Lifeless laid on the floor. 

Life’s brief dream,
Fallen leaf in a stream,
Mere memory evermore. 

Matter matters not,
But carnage in rot,
By wood-handled spade
In earthen-clay laid. 
To higher realms I pray you soar. 

Blue Creek

I have no identity
But what you would have of me. 
A friend I would be, 
Or son, brother or father, 
To your mother, sister, daughter. 
But If you ask me,
Nothing here to see. 

Guitar on the knee,
Twangy variations of Bluesy E
With a found blue A.T.C. 
Somewhere south of Tennessee.
Where the Creek would  roam,
When they were free,
Before losing their homes and way
For the sake of foreign liberty. 

Euclidian but not (NGC 2276)

Cross dimensions four
I steered my faithful ship.

With sea of time 
both aft and fore,
O’er space my hull did skip,
Toward sands of unknown
distant shore.

For ever east, 
where west is west 
Whilst  on a circumferential plane. 

Chart tangential of the 
axial twain
To plow through spatial
 trough and crest  
Of a boundless 
celestial 
ancestral plain, 
Where perhaps
 we shall meet 
again. 

A Bee on the Breeze

Having sailed over
     a green sea,  
Far from home 
    and shore,
Upon a small isle 
    I  set my keel,
A place I’d never
     been before,
To replenish 
    diminished stores 
From natures bloom,
    Those rebels of doom,
Fragrant flowers 
    of spring.

So praises I  sing 
With lines of rhyme,
    Of ambrosias 
    sweet in taste,
‘Fore the sickle of time
Those  posies reposed 
    lays waste.