Day 0
Gradual slowing
Grasshopper plays on my knee
Walking practice soothes
Day 1
Sharp swell of some vast, unknown sadness
Eyes like storm clouds shatter under the heavy burden
Forgot. You don't hold water. It flows.
Day 2
Shadow thoughts--Shaken.
Sayalay laughs at my fears.
I borrow wisdom.
Day 3
Morn: Joy--Mara's doubt seen in sadness.
Noon: Withdrawal--into a green, affection-starved hiding.
Eve: Hope--watching waves, the film burn up. (1)
Day 4
Slow learning patience
Through silent conversations
With electric pain.
Day 5
Names strip false power...
Old rage becomes new effort.
Elemental steps.
Each actions begins with intention.
"Phassa paccaya vedana paccaya tanha"
Catch it early and break the cycle. (2)
Day 6
And then, just like that--
Can't remember how to breathe.
Humble while drowning.
Day 7
I can't make it stay.
Learn to bring it back gently--
Nonviolent act.
Day 8
Faith shaken to root;
Only to offer ripe fruit,
The next rich moment.
Day 9
Gratitude stands guard
Against Mara's eighth army.
"Thank you" with each step. (3)
Day 10
"Be brave," she had said.
Did she see what was coming?
Crumpled heap. Breath clears.
Day 11
Broken steps.
Vibrations begin.
Don't fight pain.
Day 12
A sea of blackness--
Vibratory horizons.
And yet...complacence.
Who is this
talker and viewer?
Bizarre ghost.
Day 13
Letting go of the secondary,
Hard attached to commentary and analysis.
"About is easier than "in it"
Day 14
Starting small.
Accept: Rise and Fall.
Rest follows.
Fifteen-year-old tension in belly--
Naive premonition of what release could stir up.
Vibrating soles on the Earth speak peace.
Day 15
Relaxed is nimble.
Strive and surrender. Learn both.
Mapping fluid breath.
All important things,
Can be gleaned from observing
--the Breath and Footsteps.
Day 16
Learning trust from breath.
Reclined, the enso rises.
New life springs from void. (4)
"There is a body,"
Punctuates the walking path.
Simple is profound.
Still tracing sadness--
Chest, throat, eyes occupied...
Lingering...and gone...
Midnight Interlude
Homage and precepts greet the new year.
A general sense of well being as I sit again.
Gesturing to a year of bright faith.
Day 17
Ambushed by an itch...
Three-breath adhitthans--that's it.
Heat glows in the chest. (5)
Lunch: fear and craving.
Strong desire to escape.
Writing on the wall.
Day 18:
Five hinderances--alive and well.
Still plotting my way to a false freedom--dumb and blind.
Self forgiveness, a foreign language.
Heavy burden: Form
Mind is a tool, not a Self.
Posture slippery.
Day 19
Samsara: drowsy afternoon dream.
All pain is nyana-related if you can know it.
"This is your burning hand." "Be here now." (6)
Two dozen
half-open lotus,
Scattered in the mist.
And then suddenly,
In depths of discouragement,
Metta harmonies.
Day 20
Don't hate the dukkha.
Sayadaw says that it means progress.
Patience and courage.
Appreciation with the hot sun.
But a familiar voice whispers self-doubt lullabies.
Still capable of a warm stillness.
Bonus
Geckos in my room.
I hope they eat the mozzies.
Not very buddhist.
(1) Mara (lit. "Death") is the embodiment of delusion and other obstructions to awakening in the Buddhist tradition and serves a role akin to, though in many ways very different from, the devil in the Christian context.
(2) "Based on (sense) contact, feeling (tone) arises, (based on feeling tone) craving arises." Or "Contact conditions feeling conditions craving." An abbreviated version of the sixth, seventh and eighth links in the chain of dependent origination.
(3) Mara's eighth army of ten is Conceit and Ingratitude.
(4) Enso (lit. "circle" in Japanese) is a symbol for awakening, the void and the cosmos in its entirety, and is a common subject of Zen calligraphy.
(5) Adhitthana is the Pali word for "composure" or may designate a period of determined practice.
(6) Nyana (spelled phonetically) means "knowledge" in Pali, but has specific significance for the Mahasi tradition, as it uses a progression of "insight knowledges" (as outlined in the Visuddhimagga and other commentaries) as a navigation device for development in the practice.
Gradual slowing
Grasshopper plays on my knee
Walking practice soothes
Day 1
Sharp swell of some vast, unknown sadness
Eyes like storm clouds shatter under the heavy burden
Forgot. You don't hold water. It flows.
Day 2
Shadow thoughts--Shaken.
Sayalay laughs at my fears.
I borrow wisdom.
Day 3
Morn: Joy--Mara's doubt seen in sadness.
Noon: Withdrawal--into a green, affection-starved hiding.
Eve: Hope--watching waves, the film burn up. (1)
Day 4
Slow learning patience
Through silent conversations
With electric pain.
Day 5
Names strip false power...
Old rage becomes new effort.
Elemental steps.
Each actions begins with intention.
"Phassa paccaya vedana paccaya tanha"
Catch it early and break the cycle. (2)
Day 6
And then, just like that--
Can't remember how to breathe.
Humble while drowning.
Day 7
I can't make it stay.
Learn to bring it back gently--
Nonviolent act.
Day 8
Faith shaken to root;
Only to offer ripe fruit,
The next rich moment.
Day 9
Gratitude stands guard
Against Mara's eighth army.
"Thank you" with each step. (3)
Day 10
"Be brave," she had said.
Did she see what was coming?
Crumpled heap. Breath clears.
Day 11
Broken steps.
Vibrations begin.
Don't fight pain.
Day 12
A sea of blackness--
Vibratory horizons.
And yet...complacence.
Who is this
talker and viewer?
Bizarre ghost.
Day 13
Letting go of the secondary,
Hard attached to commentary and analysis.
"About is easier than "in it"
Day 14
Starting small.
Accept: Rise and Fall.
Rest follows.
Fifteen-year-old tension in belly--
Naive premonition of what release could stir up.
Vibrating soles on the Earth speak peace.
Day 15
Relaxed is nimble.
Strive and surrender. Learn both.
Mapping fluid breath.
All important things,
Can be gleaned from observing
--the Breath and Footsteps.
Day 16
Learning trust from breath.
Reclined, the enso rises.
New life springs from void. (4)
"There is a body,"
Punctuates the walking path.
Simple is profound.
Still tracing sadness--
Chest, throat, eyes occupied...
Lingering...and gone...
Midnight Interlude
Homage and precepts greet the new year.
A general sense of well being as I sit again.
Gesturing to a year of bright faith.
Day 17
Ambushed by an itch...
Three-breath adhitthans--that's it.
Heat glows in the chest. (5)
Lunch: fear and craving.
Strong desire to escape.
Writing on the wall.
Day 18:
Five hinderances--alive and well.
Still plotting my way to a false freedom--dumb and blind.
Self forgiveness, a foreign language.
Heavy burden: Form
Mind is a tool, not a Self.
Posture slippery.
Day 19
Samsara: drowsy afternoon dream.
All pain is nyana-related if you can know it.
"This is your burning hand." "Be here now." (6)
Two dozen
half-open lotus,
Scattered in the mist.
And then suddenly,
In depths of discouragement,
Metta harmonies.
Day 20
Don't hate the dukkha.
Sayadaw says that it means progress.
Patience and courage.
Appreciation with the hot sun.
But a familiar voice whispers self-doubt lullabies.
Still capable of a warm stillness.
Bonus
Geckos in my room.
I hope they eat the mozzies.
Not very buddhist.
(1) Mara (lit. "Death") is the embodiment of delusion and other obstructions to awakening in the Buddhist tradition and serves a role akin to, though in many ways very different from, the devil in the Christian context.
(2) "Based on (sense) contact, feeling (tone) arises, (based on feeling tone) craving arises." Or "Contact conditions feeling conditions craving." An abbreviated version of the sixth, seventh and eighth links in the chain of dependent origination.
(3) Mara's eighth army of ten is Conceit and Ingratitude.
(4) Enso (lit. "circle" in Japanese) is a symbol for awakening, the void and the cosmos in its entirety, and is a common subject of Zen calligraphy.
(5) Adhitthana is the Pali word for "composure" or may designate a period of determined practice.
(6) Nyana (spelled phonetically) means "knowledge" in Pali, but has specific significance for the Mahasi tradition, as it uses a progression of "insight knowledges" (as outlined in the Visuddhimagga and other commentaries) as a navigation device for development in the practice.
I was going to read this one all the way through, but I think I'll read one a day.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe two.