delusion

May 29, 2023

THE SURANGAMA SCRIPTURE’S NOT SEEING

It happens every day,
when I arise from the cushion
and look, I see myself there.
If you look, you say you see me as well.
It will happen one day
that when I arise from the cushion
and look I will not see myself.
If you look, you will say you see me,
and I will nod in agreement.
Each day when I see myself,
I know that it is I who I am seeing.
But each day I see an illusion,
masquerading as I, a delusion,
and I see you seeing me, a delusion.
Each day you see me, you see
a delusion, but a different delusion.
Consider how strange this is,
for on the day I do not see myself
I see no delusion, but you see me
and see a delusion, but I do not
see you, for there is no me to see you,
and just then I am free of delusion.

A reflection on Case 94 of the Blue Cliff Record (碧巌録, Hekiganroku)

May 15, 2023

MASTER MA IS UNWELL

Yesterday is but a shadow
and tomorrow an illusion.
Do not wallow in the mud
of attempted memory, do
not sink in the mire
of deluded anticipation.
Stop, listen to the sun
and the moon sing
of the Dharma, hear
the silence it brings
for you are alive
in this moment,
and there is
no other moment
in which you can live.

A reflection on Case 3 of the Blue Cliff Record (Hekiganroku 碧巌録)

May 14, 2023

NO HARRY

There is no Houdini today, no
master of escapology, only sleight
of hand that cannot provide
a release from our self-
made shackles, for we have
failed to learn the secrets
that might have saved us.
We were stubborn, figured that
we could solve the problem later,
read a book, looked to a new master
but those new masters have only
perfected the art of illusion and that
was our delusion, that we could
magically escape from the prison,
the ecological and natural prison
that we have created for ourselves

April 22, 2023

HOW OLD?

People say that dogs can live
to well over 100 dog years,
but each of our years
is seven of theirs, so
our self-delusion feels complete.
We want old age for our dogs
to feel they have lived a full life,
something we also want for ourselves
and so we project on our pets.
The odd thing is that as we age
we wonder if our pets will
outlive us, and the older
we get, the more it begins to feel
that time is attempting
to behaves like dog time
the years seeming to pass
ever more quickly.

February 14, 2023

UNKNOWABLE

How often have we
sat in pews, on the zafu
and heard an enrobed
man or woman say
“Let me describe for you”
that which cannot be
described, that which
is beyond mere words.

We would be better served
to just sit in silence
and hear deeply what
we need, not empty words
meant to lead, to mislead,
for you God does not speak
and you cannot claim to be
enlightened, for both
are delusion, but both
can be experienced if only
you look deeply within.

January 12, 2023

VICTOR

In our time
of never-ending war,
punctured by the briefest
lulls we now call peace,
someone, someones
more likely, will talk
about whom will be
the victor, to whom
shall go the spoils.
Bierce, that perpetual
cynic, reminded us
that peace was a period
of cheating between
two periods of fighting.
But no one pauses
to consider that
in any war there are
no true victors
only the victims
unwillingly offered up
in sacrifice to delusion.

First appeared in Jimson Weed, Volume XLI, New Series Vol. 25, Number 2, Fall 2022
https://view.publitas.com/university-of-virginias-college-at-wise/jimson-weed-fall-2022/

August 20, 2021

IMAGINE THAT

You said you can only accept
what is real and tangible,
everything else
is a delusion or figment.

I cannot accept your premise
as a generalization, it eliminates
so much, for what you call real
may be otherwise to me.

And given that you are not
always present, perhaps
when you are not, when you
are not actually tangible
you are a delusion, and that
is something I can do well without:
In other words, farewell.

August 9, 2021

CALLING THE MASTER 無門關 十二

Each morning ask yourself
if it is you who is there
and answer: “Of course.”

Remind yourself
“Do not be made
a fool of today”
and assure yourself
you will not

Each morning
four selves,
each deluded, each
the fool, of one self
which is no self
free of all delusion.

A reflection on Case 12 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate Koans)

December 11, 2020

DEFLATED DREAMS

when did youthful dreams
slip away
erode
get consumed by
parents
teachers
or simply abandoned

reality, yours
theirs a poor substitute
all edges
and points
piercing hope

love once (a) given
rendered faint hope
worse, impossible dream
delusion? you want
to think not
want so much
can’t have
bad for you
we know good
when we give it
none for you

time
past so
grow up