Now and Zen

Is it easy for anyone? Is it easy for you?

Now and Zen

Having abandoned his palace

he starved, stumbled on blistered,

bloody feet down sharp and stony paths.

Tiger-stalked plunged through thickets.

Engulfed in torrential rain

he sought in every solitary place

and in the face of every beggar,

hermit and saint the reasons why.

And not one could say.

At last, bewildered and alone he sank

beneath his heartbreak

under a pipal tree and vowed

he would not stand until he understood.

At sunrise on the 49th day he woke up.

Sit and discern reality as it is,

not in the space between your ears,

but in the universe below your feet.

Sit. Then like him,

Stand up and go forth as a light.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

somehow this reminded me of Oedipus...who when blinded by his own hand, he saw more than he did when he had two good ideas.
we can always change the prescriptions to our glasses to see better what is in front of us...but can we get a prescription to see more clearly and understand what is in our minds?
why we write what we write?
I don't know if there is one strong enough.
such a thoughtful write.
j.