Why practice quiet sitting?
So you can really get a look
At your original mind.
You look at it coming, look at it going,
And then you know you’re the original person.
This latter age has no deep faith,
No one practices the
Direct road to understanding.
All they do is flap three inches of tongue
And lose themselves in the muddle of the mind.
Yes, I am
truly a dunce. Living
among the trees and plants,
don’t question me about illusion and
enlightenment. This old fellow just likes to smile to
himself. I wade across streams with bony legs,
and I carry a bag about in fine spring
weather. That’s my life, and
the world owes me
nothing.
We can
aspire to be kind
right in the moment,
to relax and open our heart and
mind to what is in front of us right in
the moment. Now is the time. If there’s
any possibility for enlightenment,
it’s right now, not at
some future
time.
The place
that Solomon made
to worship in, called the Far Mosque,
is not built of earth and water and stone,
but of intention and wisdom and
mystical conversation and
compassionate
action.
Every
part of it is intelligent
and responsive to every other.
The carpet bows to the broom. The door
knocker and the door swing together
like musicians. This heart sanctuary
does exist, though it cannot
be described.
Solomon
goes there every morning
and gives guidance with words,
with musical harmonies, and in actions,
which are the deepest teaching. A prince
is just a conceit, until he does
something with his
generosity.