Reflections during a
summer solstice…
Content in the realization
that the declination
of my Earthly Sol
now travels north,
toward final winter’s
hibernation.
To what point oratory
hyperbole
and grandiloquence bombast?
Magniloquence verbosity
with pomposity elocution?
Eloquence replaced
with rant and discourse,
and oration displaced by
balderdash fustian frustration.
Waxing exclusive
warring tribes,
and inkish snide
eclipsing waning
inclusive
benevolent
compassion.
You know not me,
nor I any more
learned of you.
Where does
humanity hide?
If wise
then precious bought,
for wisdom’s cost,
all one sought.
In transience
there is but naught.
Transcended,
all lies
in divine thought,
awakening mind
that knows all,
beckoning voice
that ever calls.
Finger swirl,
temporal whirl
around center
not really there,
atop a vast
placid ocean.
Dance done,
dissipation,
the aggregates
of self,
into time’s motion
and a spatial sea
sublime.
“Why?”
The question which seeks
answer to the root
of conditioned causality.
Intent behind purpose.
Existentially asked
by those ignorant
to the nature of reality.
The Damsel of the Sanct Grael by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1874)
To Son of Man
The Lord
the fruits of knowledge
did forbid,
For one who mistakes
knowledge for wisdom
the truth is hid.
Knowledge is the cup
that overflows,
Wisdom the cup
that emptiness holds.
Claim not that
thou are wise,
Proclaim wisdom
to be thy prize.
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…
buddham saranam gacchati (… intent upon going)
dhammam saranam gacchati
sangham saranam gacchati
buddham saranam gacchāmi (… I go)
dhammam saranam gacchāmi
sangham saranam gacchāmi
dutiyampi buddham saranam gacchāmi (a second time…)
dutiympi dhammam saranam gacchāmi
dutiyampi sangham saranam gacchāmi
tatiyampi buddham saranam gacchāmi (a third time…)
tatiyampi dhammam saranam gacchāmi
tatiyampi sangham saranam gacchāmi
As to take refuge in the three jewels is to give refuge, with intent to give refuge, I go…
Without hate as the aim,
Without greed as the aim,
Without illusion as the aim,
Without hate as the way,
Without greed as the way,
Without illusion as the way,
Giving reverence to the many before,
Giving reverence to the many after,
Giving reverence to the many teachers of the path
Giving reverence to the many who assist on the path
Giving reverence to the many who share the path
Giving reverence to the one who reveled the path
I give reverence to Buddha Shakyamuni, the Perfectly Enlightened One, and his twelve principle deeds…
descent from celestial Tushita
entrance into mother’s womb
birth
mastery of worldly arts and skills
enjoyment of his consorts
renunciation of worldly ways
endurance of severe physical penances
mediation under the Bodhi Tree
overcoming the the forces of mara
attainment of Buddhahood
turning the wheel of dharma
entrance into peaceful parinirvana
May I realize the causes and consequences of paticca-samuppāda (dependent origination)…
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.
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.
In fractal,
fractal intertwined.
As to become,
as so behind.
With singular aim,
a cosmic bow,
Intent as above,
so below.
A spectrum of white,
Harmonic cosmic blue,
Illuminating clear light
that is inner 'you.'
