Perhaps we spend too much
time wondering if there are
aliens of the ET sort among us.
Let’s face it, if they are
advanced enough to get here,
they ought to be able to fit in
without standing out, so
sorry Hollywood, it may make
for an exciting movie but
it just isn’t all that likely.
And before you remind me
of UFO sightings, just because
you see a bus stop in the dark
of night, you can’t be certain
anyone got off or on, can you?
If you go in search of Buddha
should you see him, do
not stop or speak but run away.
If you do not see the Buddha
run away from that place.
If you stop, to take water
from the edge of a still pond
look carefully, for
the Buddha is there
just above the water’s surface.
A reflection on case 80 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)
What is it you are looking for,
what you expect to find
and how will you know
if you find it?
You expected your teacher
to present it to you?
What would you do with it
if you did receive it?
You must first see that you
are both the searcher
and the teacher and
you already have
what you are searching for,
for you find things when
you stop looking for them.
A reflection on Case 17 of the Book of Equanimity (SHôYôROKU 従容錄)
In your endless search
for enlightenment,
the best course, the only course
is to stop looking.
It may strike you,
unexpected or it may
arise without your seeing
as you continue your practice.
You say there are many Buddhas
and you are correct, but I say
there is but one Buddha and I
am also correct, and you are
that one Buddha and I am
that one Buddha as well.
A reflection on case 14 of the Book of Equanimity (SHôYôROKU 従容錄)
Stop and breathe, deeply,
don’t look at the smog,
at the particles hanging
in your air like a curtain.
Don’t pause to consider
what you are inhaling, don’t
picture your alveoli clogged
with what you can now see.
You are drowning slowly in
a sea of air, so imagine yourself
a fish struggling in the water
of a sea you have laid waste to.
You are a searcher, you
look for answers, you look
for the right path
that will lead you
to enlightenment.
You see everything
as black or white, good
or bad, right or wrong.
You are a master
at division.
Stop searching, stop
seeking answers, stop
dividing, then sit
with Nansen’s cat.
That will be enough.
A reflection on case 8 of the Book of Equanimity
I’ve made a practice
which feels more like a demand,
that each day I take a few
moments or more and stop
whatever else I was, or
should have been, doing
to write a poem.
There are days, perhaps this
one where it seems more
a short bit of prose to which
I have added line breaks
despite the protest
of the words, condemning them
to bear the mockery, and
others when I take a poem,
ignore its inherent rhythm
and pass it off as prose,
that insult remembered,
the words plotting revenge
but lying low, waiting
for the perfect moment
to destroy a poem I know
is worthy of publication.
Our problem is one of blindness.
We are constantly seeking
for that which we have, that
which have no need of, that
which we think we need
but cannot be certain.
If we limited our blindness
to things life would be
simpler, but our blindness
carries over to our search
for enlightenment, for redemption,
for absolution, and we
fail to realize that we have
all of that already, if only
we would stop looking for them.
Driving to the car dealer yesterday
for what I should have known
would be expensive service, not
because I hadn’t had my car
serviced in over a year, simply
because any trip to the dealer
for service is expensive, Q.E.D.,
I drove by Easy Street.
I thought of stopping, perhaps
looking for a small house
to keep for the occasional getaway,
I mean who doesn’t want
to live on Easy Street.
Sadly the homes were run down
and the neighborhood was
spotted with half empty
strip plazas, so I had to conclude
it iwould be hard to live on Easy Street.
It ran, got me from point A
to point B, often with a few
starts and stops, always
begrudging, and a ghastly
shade of yellow that helped
explain why I could afford it
in the fist place.
The windshield wipers died
periodically, so I avoided
rain when possible
or accepted a soaked
or frozen arm when not.
Eventually the top
of the carburetor came loose
but Double Bubble gum
chewed for no more
than five minutes
made a suitable glue
that was good for at least
a couple of days.
It was a disaster, and yet
I miss my old Opel Rallye even
if the German’s couldn’t spell.
an old writer and his words 