I have a ladle of wine
to share with you tonight
a new year rain drums on the roof
an ancient wind sings in the fields
considering the world’s
springtime and fall
this body’s decay and emptiness
the destruction of the tombs on Peimang
let us sigh for all our heroes.
Lu You (1125-1210)
until only the mountain
The birds
have vanished from the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain
and me, until only
the mountain
remains.
right here
If there
is peace in your mind
you will find peace with everybody.
If your mind is agitated you will find agitation
everywhere. So first find peace within and you will see
this inner peace reflected everywhere else.
You are this peace! You are happiness,
find out. Where else will you
find peace if not
within
you?
Darkness
has been given as
a nightshirt to sleep in.
Remember how human beings
were composed from water and dust
for blood and flesh with oily resins heated
in fire to make a skeleton. Then the soul, the divine
light, was breathed into human shapes. The work now is
to help our bodies become pure light. It may look like
this is not happening. But in a cocoon every bit
of worm-dissolving slime becomes silk.
As we take in light, each part
of us turns to
silk.
We
made the night
a darkness, but we bring
shining dawnlight out of that.
In the same way the mound of your
grave will bloom with resurrection. Sufis
and those on the path of the heart use darkness
to go within. During the night vigil the universe
is theirs. With all the kings and sultans and
their learned counselors asleep, everyone
is unemployed, except those wakeful
few and the divine
presence.
they come and go in birth and death
Great bodhisattvas
arrive at consummate skill in means;
they are always concerned with the welfare of all
sentient beings, they do not reject the realm of common
ignorance, do not seek individual escape, do not cling to their own
happiness. They only strive to edify and liberate others; they are
able to enter and exit meditations and liberations, and have
attained mastery of all concentrations. They come
and go in birth and death as though
roaming through a park,
never getting sick
of it.
They
may live in the palace
of demons or may be celestial beings —
they manifest their bodies in all realms of life.
They may become mendicants in non-buddhist groups,
yet they always avoid false views…They may appear as beautiful
women, intelligent and talented, foremost in the world…Though they
show attainment of true enlightenment moment to moment, still
they do not stop the practice of bodhisattvas. This is their
fourth unique quality, the ultimate consummation
of skill in means without relying
on the teaching of
another.
tui 兌 the joyous
In its essence,
the Way is without words.
All this talking and pointing
and carrying on, only signposts.
Gather too many of them
and they’ll weigh you
down. Just be
silent.
You
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Wei wu Wei Ching as part of a
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