This collection of poems is written with one intention: inspiring the mind to transcend itself. However, neither the author nor publisher is engaged in offering any professional advice or services to the reader. The ideas - and what may perhaps be (mis)construed as suggestions - contained herein are not a substitute for assistance from an appropriate physical or mental health professional. Readers must therefore take responsibility for their own actions. Neither the author nor publisher will be liable in any way for situations that have arisen from action(s) allegedly taken based on the contents of this book.
Copyright © 2007 Prem Abhay. All rights reserved.
This book, or any part thereof, cannot be reproduced in any form without prior permission.
CONTENTS
Introduction:
Refelections
Enigma
Disclaimer:
Inpirations:
The Gang
Osho Affairs
Early Works:
Osho Inspired:
Moments or Lifetimes
Counsel
Together
Veil of Dreams
Waiting
Competition
Love, Lies and Truth
Devices
Art of Living
Timing is the art of living
Emotions
Home Alone
Princess
Old Emotions
Utterly Blind
The Doors are all Closed
Jealousy and Possessiveness
Love, Fear and Happening
Seeds of Poison, Seeds of Love
Listening to the Wise
Searching for a Master
Fellow Travellers
Hidden Tears
A Strange Journey
Dawn of the Setting Sun
When to Wait
Summer or Sex
On Black Holes
Gestalt
Coming and Going
Shock
Minds mind
Overwhelming Love
Belief, Doubt. And Knowing
Lost
Waves
Hello Goodbye
The Beloved
Creativity
Goodbye
Coming and Going
Empty Skies
Love, One, and All
Starless Night
Bright Nothing
Hmmm
Featherless Bird
Running
Lovers Fight
Waiting for Nothing
Pretty Dreams
Trash
Pathless Path
Tight-Rope
Oxymoron
Being Natural
Not Sitting Silently
Footprints
Wild Spirit
Avoidance
Adult-ery
Rising Sun
Songs of the Morning
Heads or Tales
Trust
Little Worlds
Devices
Communication
False as False
Forever Now
Take Rest
Take More Rest
Lust, Love and Beauty
False Hope
Black and White
Arise!
Sole Dark Soul
Trust Someone
Shadowless
Belief
Uncompromising
Splash
Keep Company
Roses and Rose Bushes
Inevitability
24 hours
Madness
Gone Away
Outsiders
The End
Maturity
Night Visitor
Adventure
Another Adventure
Recent Works:
Which Way?
A Wild Spirit
Back or Forwards
The Poet
Hope.
Wondering?
No More
In Time
Silence
I Love and Hate
Quick?
Guilty or Not?
Stuck
Lost
Ageing
Hope Less
Beware
On Circles
Balance
Responsibility
Freedom and Responsibility
Shadow
Wisdom
Acceptance
Body Beautiful
Lust
Advice
Hunger
Conversations
Directions
Modern Psychology
Not This Nor Not That
Choices.
The Grasshopper
Voyage
Avoidance
Smoking
Openness
Dreaming of Diamonds
Shipwrecked
War
Politicians
More Politicians
Cycles
Winds
The Unseen
Differences
Geese and Bottles
Current Affairs:
North South
The Asian Brown Cloud
Shared Home Equity
Global Hot
21st Century Man
Disclaimer & Conclusion
Introduction:
My name is Prem Abhay. I have a Management diploma, university degrees in Business and in Engineering(Hons), and completed post-graduate studies in Philosophy. I have spent a majority of the last ten years exploring meditation centres and systems of Asian lineage - in particular Buddhist monasteries and centres in my home country and in Thailand, and Ashrams and Yoga Centres in India. At one stage I spent two years in silent retreat at a centre in India.
This book represents an expression in words of part of this journey. The most central writings are literally the words, from my own understanding, that have been for the sole purpose of helping me navigate the silent deserts, and traverse the unfamiliar rocky terrains, that are my inner journey.
The passages contained are intended to inspire the mind to transcend itself. Matters of religiousness or spirit - or whatever you like to call, or not call, such affairs - are approached in different ways. The master is on the other shore trying to pull people across, and has their awareness - but not always their mind - onside.
Our own minds always equivocate this way and that. However, the mind knows where the secrets of the universe lie, and out of fear and not-knowing turns to other things. It can be encouraged to look deep within itself, and gather conviction and understanding about the ultimate journey into the religiousness that is beyond mind: mind transcends itself. Our minds can be inspired to push the frontiers of the known, to explore the unknown, and ultimately to become the unknowable.
Refelections
If there is a reflection
then you know
there is a mirror -
to reflect it.
At least it is a start.
To know that there
is a mirror is a start.
To know that there
is only a mirror is the end.
Enigma
The poetry contained herein
is about navigating life’s journey.
Each poem is written as a riddle;
and it will only unwind for you
after you need it.
However it will not be valueless
when you do.
Disclaimer:
It is not for me to say go this way or that, and neither is it for me to even say go at all - nor stay. It is oft repeated that the journey is into the wordless. However I have created my own map, for my own journey, and I testify that the map is authentic. Admittedly I don’t know whether it got me anywhere, but it has been quite a journey - perhaps just in many circles. However you interpret these works, if you conclude that I am claiming some spiritual attainment, than you are categorically wrong. I have simply made up some words and here they are.
If you so much as read any part of my navigational chart, and act there upon, know that you are reading from, and acting on information from, your own chart. I only make one suggestion: if there is a sense that something that I have written and that you have read did not help you, than do not read it again, nor read anything else that I have written.
Inpirations: The Gang
At any time,
past, present, and future,
I would very much like to have
the pleasure of meeting:
if I were in the forest,
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu;
in New York,
Kahlil Gibran and
George Gurdjieff;
wherever,
Mevlani Rumi;
and in hell,
Osho.
I have a feeling that if
I were in the eternal blazing inferno
that our most recent beloved Catholic pope
has reminded us is actually real,
not metaphoric, I would also chance upon
at the same table as Osho,
George the ‘Black Devil’ Gurdjieff,
Buddhadasa the traitorous
thai Zen master,
no doubt the impious
Gibran and Rumi,
and most likely,
the remainder of the gang.
Osho Affairs
Osho said to have affairs,
Osho said don’t have affairs;
he also said have affairs and
don’t have affairs.
The main thing he said is
have an ultimate affair.
Early Works:
We must get to the stage where
we have nothing to work out,
and much to work on.
———
Our relationship to the people we hate
is as important as our relationship we have
with those we love.
———
Peace is the most important thing;
if you have it,
you do not need anything;
if you do not have it,
everything means nothing.
———
Most of us are not grown up,
yet neither are we children.
To become one or the other
is to become both,
to become one.
Awareness becomes crisp
when the echoes of memories
take their rightful place
as just that.
———
Things fade out of awareness. However,
by attending to those things more closely
the awareness becomes crisp,
and memories become just that:
memories.
Osho Inspired:
Moments or Lifetimes
To love for a moment,
ever able to move one,
unattached and free,
or to love for lifetimes?
Who deeply loves,
who deeply lives?
The life of the vagabond
or the life of the settled?
Moment to moment,
I am able to love and move on.
If the other moves away,
offering my blessings.
Lifetimes and lifetimes
I am able to love.
If the other moves away
I offer my blessings.
Moment to moment,
I am unable to love and move on.
If the other moves away
I offer only enmity.
Lifetimes and lifetimes
I am unable to love.
If the other moves away
I offer only enmity.
The last step depends on the first;
as the first on the last.
Step by step I make my way.
Yet if not where I am headed
I have in mind,
step by step, I go astray.
With unwielding patience
I consider the destination.
Yet if I not take care
of the steps I take,
with sweet dreams in mind
I drift away.
Eyes fixed firmly on the path,
I make my way to the sunlit peak;
and with eyes firmly fixed
on the sunlit peak,
I carefully make my way
along the mountain path.
Wisdom is to see the close
and the distant together.
Then one will not
stray off the path,
and then one will
reach the destination –
whether love is for a few moments
or for lifetimes
matters not.
Moments turn into lifetimes
and lifetimes happen in a moment.
Counsel
Always seek counsel
from the wise;
For those who stray
to the left need to move right,
and those who stray
to the right need to move left.
The wise is outside you
if you are fortunate.
The wise is inside you
if you listen.
Together
Some say they watch
their step closely,
and their heads are lost
in far away clouds.
Others say they are focused
on the far away truth,
and they stumble and fall
over their own feet.
Veil of Dreams
How is it that we cannot see
through the veil of dreams.
Living our dreams as if
they have so much import;
yet they are just fantasies,
distortions, hallucinations:
just painted pictures,
ugly or beautiful.
It is that we live outside ourselves,
with all our longings.
We create outside us
a fantasy of longings,
and as our creation grows vaster
so does our need
to keep this outside dream alive.
So a vast delusion we mask
over an unreflecting world.
And one day our vast empire
comes smashing down
and crushes our long
forgotten inner world.
A knowing arises that yes
our contorted picture
is not in accord
with the way things are.
Something has gone wrong,
drastically wrong.
As the dust settles once again,
we pick ourselves up, and carry on.
Ever willing to create another dream.
Yet few see wiser that
tragedy can be a revelation:
what is the way that is not this?
How to see the real
rather than create the fictitious?
No more shocking
surprises for the wise,
as they see clearly what is
without from within.
To look out from within,
we cannot be taken outside
and then thrown painfully back
to ourselves – no matter what
the apparent turmoil around us.
Reality does not reflect us,
we reflect reality.
Waiting
I am a waiter –
it is my vocation.
Waiting for people to come,
waiting for people to stay,
waiting for people to go,
and waiting for people
who have gone.
Waiting also for the sun
to rise one day.
In the vast darkness
of a desert night
the faded glow of embers
are a constant reminder
of the coming dawn.
Waiting yes,
but in the background;
almost as if of no import,
yet tremendously so.
Competition
The person who
comes last usually wins,
though the person who comes first
can also win in the same way.
It is not so simple,
nor is it true, to say
winners lose and losers win.
Love, Lies and Truth
What if a loved one told a lie
to help you see the truth?
Could their love be so much
even to say goodbye?
Only someone that deeply loves
can forego themselves
and mirror the other person –
showing them what lies
hidden in themselves.
It takes great courage and
understanding to receive such a gift.
The wise show the lies as a lie
once the truth is seen.
Yet in between lies a period of darkness
where all seems lost and irrecoverable.
To pass through this,
to see one’s own lies as lies,
needs tremendous trust and patience.
Wait for the fog to settle before you look,
for in utter darkness one does not know
that one is in darkness, and cannot see.
This is man’s essential difficulty.
And when all settles
still one knows not for sure,
but it does not matter.
One can act and live
in accord with this intuitive space
that does not know for sure,
that doesn’t believe.
Lies and truth are fictions
on the path of truth.
Devices
What happens when you meet a master?
One thing for sure, you will not forget it.
The master will hit you on the head.
The master will tell you a lie.
And the master will find a way
to show you the lie as a lie –
be alert for it.
To meet a master is to meet a device.
This is the master game.
Art of Living
The art of living
is in the art of waiting
and the art of loving:
learning to wait
for that which you love.
It is that when
that which we have
deeply waited for
appears on our doorstep,
it is not ill-timed
or a disappointment,
for that disappointment is false,
and will lead us astray
from authentic love.
Wait patiently yet not too long.
Similarly we can be fooled
into following empty paths.
Beware of beautiful gifts
parcelled in our own longing.
Timing is the art of living.
And though it may seem at times
we are at the mercy of the prevailing winds,
it is only half so.
We can invite and we can withdraw,
thus taking responsibility.
Emotions
When a friend is angry
and talks of bleak past and future,
listen not to their talk but their heart;
for their heart is hurting.
And when all is again calm,
listen to their words.
Home Alone
A little weary
I sit on my bed,
gentle music playing.
A day full of puzzles
has come to rest.
I write just a little
and probably soon put pen down.
Slipping under the covers.
Alas perhaps
a battle will be waged tomorrow,
yet perhaps not?
One never knows,
and knowing matters not;
for what the new day brings
is to be lived as it arrives,
as it unfolds,
as it reveals.
Princess
A princess fights.
Radiant beauty
in blazing sun.
Firefly in night,
silent dawn.
Old Emotions
Strange I know this feeling.
How old yet somehow still so binding;
never tiring of gripping my heart:
thrown into an unexpected fight
inside me.
Yet tonight my eyes
see faintly through
the foggy emotion,
and I will soon sleep –
perhaps not well.
Jealousy.
Utterly Blind
I am blinded, then I see.
I see, then I am blind.
When one is utterly blind,
every moment is filled
with blindness.
There are no moments then
to remind onself of the light:
darkness swallowed whole.
And it is in these times
we find our ultimate test.
Running blind what keeps
me from going astray?
Gather strength, soak oneself
in deep love and trust,
for this will carry you through.
Though still the passage
be utterly dark,
the traveller
utterly blind.
The Doors are all Closed
What lies open when
the doors are all closed,
when all is shut down?
In body, mind, and heart,
all is extreme,
all is out of control.
Some one thing remains;
a fine thread weaving itself
through the body, the mind,
and the heart.
Remember it!
Jealousy and Possessiveness
Come yet again,
Pain of trying to possess
such a beautiful body.
Pain of trying to keep
such a person from being free.
For no one else should see this body.
No one else should have this body.
Yet in seeing I am blind,
And in keeping I strangle.
As I lust after this body,
I lust after all bodies,
including my own.
As I smother this person,
I smother all people,
Including myself.
Two old friends
Teaming up,
Coming in waves:
more
then
less,
now
one
has
gone,
the other,
fading away
Let’s see.
Love, Fear and Happening
First that which we fear happens.
Then we live in fear.
Then we live in love.
Seeds of Poison, Seeds of Love
Poisonous seeds lie inside us,
and if they do not gain life through us,
external violation will give them life.
Such seeds are given to us
without our knowing;
and if we come to know these seeds,
first they will have an imaginary life,
then they will disappear.
And seeds of love will prosper.
Seeing will burn
all forced actions
that we have done;
that have been done to us.
Seeing will burn out imaginary fears.
Seeing will burn all our poisons,
seeing the garden.
Unmanifest love becomes poison.
Manifest poison becomes hidden.
Hidden poison becomes fear.
Manifest fear becomes silence.
Journey forth.
Listening to the Wise
Seek counsel from the wise,
for they know the way.
They have walked the way
step by step.
The road is so familiar
to them the wise.
And they can see you,
and see which way
will lead you home.
Searching for a Master
No need to search for a master:
for those who need to search
are not capable of finding;
and those who do not need to search
are the sought.
When you need to find the master,
the master will find you;
and the master will
show you whom they are;
will find ways so you can trust
that they have arrived;
and that they can not only see
where you are,
stumbling in darkness;
but can see also you future;
your light.
Fellow Travellers
So few know what is hidden;
so few even dream about it.
Sometimes it seems a lonely journey.
Fortunate to find fellow travellers
going your way. Keep company,
for special it is to find a friend
on the path.
Hidden Tears
So few tears have flown,
yet inside I have wept
countless days and nights.
Then the slightest of touch
fom a woman I love,
and my toughened soul
melts through overburdened eyes.
A womans touch.
A Strange Journey
Few have travelled this way.
I sometimes wonder
why I have ventured this way:
through a desert, and a mountain pass.
Yet the silence of the desert night,
and the glory of mountain views,
peak after peak – I trust.
Desert thirst will not consume me,
nor will a rocky crevice.
For there are not only signs,
of my own silence and beauty;
also signs that others have gone this way,
and transcended the mundane.
Dawn of the Setting Sun
Journey backwards,
into the starry night.
Stars of unimaginable beauty,
stars of unimaginable light.
Journey backwards,
from the first break of dawn,
till the setting sun
spreads its flames
across the sky.
Then you know
you have arrived.
When to Wait
If you manage to wait
till you can no longer wait,
and then wait just a little more,
you have waited well.
Summer or Sex
Is the person I love
dressing for summer or sex?
First, I do not love.
Waiting till the question
no longer matters,
then it does not matter.
Anyhow……my mind
can imagine and hallucinate.
Beware of the distortions
of jealous desires.
Softly I gaze
at this beautiful being.
From afar we live in delusion;
from close, seeing
the others humaneness.
Understanding the other,
understanding ourselves.
On Black Holes
Emergency!
Warning! Warning! Warning!
Black hole ahead!
The mind cannot see clearly.
Wait!!!
The situation can be
totally misunderstood.
Wait for a perspective.
Wait for new possibilities
to come to light:
possibilities that you
may never have considered.
That which seems
at the moment probable,
is in itself improbable.
Go on reminding the mind
of the tiny message
from the heart.
And as more perspectives come to light
the message from the heart
will become louder and clearer.
Go on reminding yourself
and the utter darkness will fade.
And alongside the strengthening reminder,
wait for the gestalt switch:
a totally different way of seeing things.
The old is dead, and the new is reborn.
The false view of utter delusion
that seems so convincingly real,
will reveal its reality of
being utterly void of any credibility.
Yes perhaps it is the case,
though not likely.
When all is considered,
the widened view seems to fit
with the way things are.
And although it keeps company
with a perhaps,
this matters not.
Gestalt
Inside ourselves reside
totally different worlds,
some so utterly false and deluded.
Yet still when we slip and fall,
we cannot see outside
this land of dreams:
not even for a moment.
Yet a reminder
from an intelligent heart
can guide us home.
Again seeing things clearly.
Coming and Going
Bewildered thoughts
roaming here and there.
Seeds of joy or
seeds of sadness,
I know not.
To feel so far away
from a loved one
that one does not know
if again we shall meet.
Slowly I yield to this.
And slowly my heart opens,
and slowly the one I love returns.
Though she never went away,
I did.
Shock
How can this be????
Wait for just one long day.
There are possibilities
that you have never dreamt of,
never imagined.
The mind has such a narrow view.
Wait, and suddenly you will see…..
Really, it might be like that not this.
It probably is like that.
It is like that.
It isn’t like this.
Crazy mind!
Beware!
Be aware.
Minds mind
The mind sees
what it wants to see,
or the mind sees
what it doesn’t want to see.
Yet the mind does not see.
So much we like to live
in unhelpful dreams.
Overwhelming Love
I love this person so much;
so beautiful….so, so beautiful.
Such overwhelming love is not love,
for love does not leave the lover shaken,
nor paints a pretty picture of the beloved.
Such love pushes you away
from yourself and others.
Authentic love
is vast yet unmoving,
never daring to take you
out of your centre – rather,
it moves you closer
to yourself and others.
Overwhelming love is top heavy,
it makes you fall over and weep.
It is not love at all.
Belief, Doubt. And Knowing
The mind does not know,
it only knows doubt.
And if you are resting in assuredness,
you are living in a belief
that will one day be shown
to have no certainty.
The mind likes to believe,
and likes to more and more.
Yet beliefs hidden partner, doubt,
will some time be shown to you.
And as surprising as this might be,
is the only way to real knowing.
I believe in God.
I believe this person loves me.
I believe in this and that.
Yes perhaps,
yet you do not know.
To see beliefs as beliefs
is to find the buddha.
The not knowing
sense of the heart
is the guiding light.
Although not knowing
is not free of doubt,
this matters not.
Not knowing will one day
lead you to truth.
Lost
Never allow other peoples beliefs
to cloud you intuition,
and you will remain on the path.
Waves
Waves on the ocean
arise and fade away.
Waves on the ocean
arise and crash on the rocks.
Waves on the ocean
arise and come to rest on the shore.
Waves arise,
sometimes create a fury,
yet inevitably settle back
into the quite depths
of a vast pool.
Hello Goodbye
If you can say goodbye
as much as you say hello,
no crime of passion
will overtake you.
All knotted threads will unravel:
each goodbye will become a rejoicing,
and each hello a treasure.
The Beloved
If from the outside
you are together and then not together,
and not together and then together,
and yet from the inside
you are together,
only then are you
not together.
Only then are you
together.
Creativity
How the citar sings
to the ancient rythym
of the seasons.
Goodbye
What happens if
you love someone,
and send them away
out of love?
That part which
hurts inside you
is not love at all.
With fresh eyes
and clouds parted,
you can see
the false from the real:
what is love.
Coming and Going
Away with you,
the one I love:
for in order to return
you must go away.
And in order for
me to go to you,
I must first
return home,
to me.
Empty Skies
Strangers in a strange land,
crying out for help in a vast sky
where no echoes have life.
Of course there can be no help:
the vastness of eternity
will consume all your longings,
all your callings,
and leave you alone,
helpless,
and free.
Love, One, and All
If you love one, love one.
If you love many, love many.
Do not be confused.
Only then…
In loving one
you will love many;
and in loving many,
you will love one.
Starless Night
This silent night,
no stars are here.
I cannot here yet I see;
I cannot see yet I hear;
this quiet, starless night.
Bright Nothing
Starless night
Sunless dawn
Shadowless day
Fireless night
Hmmm
Nothing seems to change.
Everything seems to change.
Nothing changes.
Featherless Bird
Only the featherless bird
can fly naked across the sky.
Fly away from the flock,
featherless bird.
Running
The mind is running,
the heart is running.
Better the body run.
Run, body, run!
Lovers Fight
Lovers go on fighting.
We fight to love.
We love to fight.
Weary I am of fighting.
Enough now!
There is nothing of love in fight.
There is nothing of fight in love.
Waiting for Nothing
Countless days and nights
have I waited for this moment.
And now I know
I have waited for nothing.
Ha, ha, ha…..
Aha!
It matters not,
what I have waited for.
I have waited well,
for nothing.
Pretty Dreams
Do not confuse
longing with love.
The deeper the longing
the farther you are
away from love.
Pretty dreams, yes,
but utterly false.
And the false will
inevitable give way
to the truth.
Allow it,
and come home.
Trash
The jealous mind
fulfils its own fears:
ever capable of gross
distortion and hallucination.
Do not believe in such dreams.
When all is quiet see their falseness.
Throw them away.
Pathless Path
Strange how the wise talk
about the pathless path.
It never ends,
yet they have arrived.
Tight-Rope
Neither suffocating nor ignoring,
somewhere in between.
Vast is this space;
yet it almost seems a tightrope.
I walk this fine line
not on my own single leg.
The other is helping me
to keep my balance.
And by and by
I find myself alone.
The other is here with me too.
Oxymoron
Active buddha.
Silent sports.
Rebel!
Being Natural
Our outer focus
merely reflects
our own inner state.
In seeing this
we come to our
natural state.
Being natural we see
the other is not acting
according to our fears.
The other is simply
being natural too.
Not Sitting Silently
For a time I sat
silently like a buddha.
Then I sat like a sappling
swaying in the breeze;
then like a towering tree,
standing strong and firm
as in the wildest of storms:
legs locked, one over the other,
and hands firmly clenched together.
And then I arose
and ran like the wind.
Stopping to rest
under a towering tree.
Sitting silently, l
ike a buddha.
Footprints
Yes I am on the path.
Yes there is a beloved in my life.
Yes this is a mysterious journey I am on.
I am merely noting the footprints
I make along the way.
Step by step by step….
Wild Spirit
Yes I am an office worker;
though people would be much amused
if they new what I got up to
outside and in my working hours.
For I am a wild spirit of the forest,
a flame of fire sparkling in the wind.
Back to the office!
Avoidance
All these words
I have written
in moments to avoid –
including these I now write.
Yet in writing I have
come to know this avoidance.
Perhaps I will write less now,
or perhaps the writing will show
more of the light in front of me,
rather than the darkness behind ?
Perhaps I will not write.
Perhaps I will now write.
Perhaps I will write now.
Adult-ery
It is strange how
we need such outward security
as church marriage vows – such fear!
And if love moves away,
for short or for long, what matter is it?
Adultery is simply being adult.
Be an adult and perhaps this will
also encourage the other to mature.
Although, some prefer to love
like two children endlessly playing,
perhaps even for lifetimes together.
Yet there is no contract in this.
Such people live in love not in fear.
Their contract is not on paper, it is in trust.
Is hidden in your love,
a fear about the other,
and hence a desire within yourself?
Be an adult and explore needs to be lived,
and what wants simply to be seen.
Knowing the difference between these two
is the entire art of living.
Find out what wants to live
and what needs to die.
Only then can you deeply meet others
and settle deeply into yourself.
Rising Sun
As the sun rises it spreads its
rays of warmth across the
coolness of the night.
Yet still for a time are
deep valleys yet untouched.
To be in such places is as if
it is sill the middle of night.
In the natural course
of the break of dawn,
they too will be discovered
by the rising sun.
Such a special time this is,
when night meets day.
Songs of the Morning
Sitting up in the
middle of the night,
seeing nothing,
I stare vacantly
into the night sky.
Suddenly from somewhere
beyond the night,
I here the crisp
chirping of birds.
And as more and more
the sounds pierce the night,
slowly I make out
the furniture of the day:
it’s trees and earth,
and clear blue sky.
Heads or Tales
There are always
two sides to every coin.
Every story can be told
this way and that.
This is why the wise
have only ever said two things.
They have said one thing,
they have said its opposite,
and they have said
become a witness.
This is why the wise have
only ever said one thing:
neither heads nor tails;
for in witnessing
we enter the silent sky
that the coin of life
is endlessly spinning in.
This is why the wise
have only ever said
Nothing.
Trust
The master knows
what is happening to you,
and will let you know this -
perhaps simply by an
occasional passing glance.
This knowing is
the guiding light:
that you know that
the master can see you.
As strange and mysterious
as this journey is,
there is an unyielding trust that
yes I am travelling the
right way along the path,
and have not gone astray;
and yes the path
becomes the pathless buddha.
The buddha outside me
becomes the buddha inside me.
You are your own master.
Little Worlds
We all live in our own little worlds.
And if all our little worlds
are very much the same,
we would all think
the big world is just this way too.
And life would run smoothly,
calmly, and utterly drearily.
The trouble is our little worlds
are not at all the same.
And then we think the big world
really is a crazy place.
The thing is it isn’t.
It is big enough to laugh
at all your dramas, remaining
absolutely unmoved by them.
See your own little world,
see others too,
and your view will broaden,
slowly, slowly coming in line
with the way things are.
Devices
The master never hits you once.
He always hits you twice with one strike.
He hits you in the mind
and the heart, together.
So while your mind freaks out
your heart understands.
Although the heart is hidden
while your mind is having its mad dance,
it is always there as an undercurrent.
And as the mind recovers
that which lies in the heart is revealed.
Gratitude.
Communication
Emotions speak louder than words.
In anger words will not be heard.
In love, words will not be needed.
Though, thundering is silence.
False as False
See the false, yes.
Search for the truth
beyond the false.
And then come back to
seeing the false as false.
For this alone is enough
for all that is false to drop.
What else can truth be
than when all that
only appears to be, is not.
How can what remains
when all else has disappeared
be other than the truth?
Forever Now
Normally we live
as if moment to moment
for lifetimes.
Love as if for lifetimes
moment to moment.
Take Rest
Your are on this path
and have travelled far,
and so on all those yesterdays
that once were todays,
you have managed yourself.
And so tomorrow also
what lies ahead
you will also tackle.
So take rest for the night:
not just for all the yesterdays,
for today’s journey
has left your legs weary,
so take rest.
Tomorrow will take care of itself,
and you will take care of your self.
Take rest for the night
and tomorrow move on.
Take More Rest
Take rest for the night,
for today you have travelled far.
And tomorrow you will move on,
as you have always done so.
Strength is gathered each day,
if and when it is needed.
Lust, Love and Beauty
How beautiful
this person I love,
and my mind is full
of lust and jealousy.
How ugly
this person I have loved,
and my mind
is full of enmity.
How ordinary
this person is I love,
and my heart
is full of compassion,
my mind is silent.
How beautiful
this person I love.
False Hope
There are those who give false hopes.
Such unhelpful people burden the spirit.
The wise do not give such false hopes,
though they give hope,
because hope is not false:
that which awaits you arrives.
Black and White
Days are not days without nights.
Nights are not nights without starts.
And even on those starless nights,
how the moon shines its radiant light.
Arise!
Strange how it is spoken
of waiting for dawn.;
for ask the sun whether
it knows of such things.
The sun does not rise
to greet your waiting eyes.
Rather your opened eyes
will find that the sun
has been every moment
shining brightly on your face.
Sole Dark Soul
Though there are days and nights,
there is one night without light,
and then one day without night.
No more will the sun set.
No more will night greet day,
and no more shadow you will make.
Good night. Good day.
Trust Someone
If you can trust someone
you are half way home.
If you can trust someone,
this trust will carry you
the other half way.
Trust is not fear hidden belief;
trust if very special, very deep.
It will carry you home.
Shadowless
On this day the sun casts
no shadow over your being.
For light can only
cast shadow over darkness.
And no dark corners remain.
Radiant, the sun and you.
Belief
The mind cannot see
the difference between
belief and knowing.
Those who are courageous
enough to surprise themselves,
can glimpse that all they have known
is simply a delusion.
And glimpse after glimpse
the belief system that we know
as ourselves will disappear.
Disappear because
it was never there.
It was simply the mind
projecting the past onto the future;
neither of which exists.
To see this game of projection
leads you to the present.
And in the present is no belief,
no falsity, and no shock.
A shock can bring you to the present,
and give you an insight into your aliveness.
It can help shatter your dreams
and help you live where there is
no past, no future, no dreams, no fear -
simply saying yes to what comes,
and yes to what goes.
Uncompromising
The master will mirror
your unconscious uncompromisingly,
and your unconscious is full of contradictions:
love and hate, marriage and adultery,
sex and celibacy, richness and poverty,
success and failure.
This is the function of the master:
to show you your unconscious.
And the master speaks
sometimes to an individual,
and sometimes to a crowd.
If the crowd worships celibacy,
then their unconscious will be full of sex.
So the master will tell tales of sex.
The crowd may think
the master is speaking against them,
so they will crucify the master.
But the master will even die
rather than compromise.
Splash
How else to wake up
than some ice cold water
on your face.
And though it may hurt,
in the same instant you see.
Keep Company
Keep company with people:
whether they be friends or strangers.
The people around you are your reminder
that the seasons in you are also in others,
and that all the many seasons
you see in others are also in you.
It helps us neither
hold on to the flowers of spring,
nor try and sweep away
the falling autumn leaves:
welcoming the changing seasons,
as the part of nature.
Our friends remind us of this.
Roses and Rose Bushes
The gardener understands
for love to flower
one needs to say goodbye
as much as one says hello.
Good-bye to this last beautiful red rose;
and in the coming springs perhaps
this rose bush will again thrive; or
perhaps a new rose bush will come to life,
giving beautiful flowers of golden yellow.
Not knowing which,
the gardener understands,
and tends to the rose garden
that holds no flowers.
The garden is no more a song and dance,
yet it is quiet and empty.
Inevitability
Our dreams come alive
in the changing sands of time.
24 hours
For one whole day and night,
I dare not miss a single step.
Such is this high
mountain pass I am on.
Madness
Everyone is a little crazy,
me three!
Gone Away
My friend on the path
has gone away,
to return I know not -
and in what way, if so.
Nonetheless
I cannot love half-hearted,
so I wait.
Yet I cannot wait half-hearted,
so I wait with my whole heart.
Others are different.
To wait with your whole heart
or to move on with your whole heart
is not the point.
Outsiders
Never be an outsider.
Most people live their lives this way,
looking out at other peoples and their lives,
offering endless helpful criticism.
Yet always looking out means there is
no opportunity to see where you are.
And how can someone judge another
without being clear
about where they themselves are.
Always live life as an insider,
looking into yourself,
and then into everything around you.
Hold on the criticism and first jump
into that which you do not know.
Then leave or stay but hold on the criticism.
The End
My little notebook
I have been scrawling on
is about to end.
So if what I have written
is of no use, please forgive me.
And if what if have written
is of some use,
please forgive me.
Maturity
The more you become aware,
the more awareness you become.
Night Visitor
Thoughts scattering themselves
here and there.
Suddenly the mind becomes still.
As I lie quietly
a black hole passes through me.
Adrift in sleep,
then a sleepless dream,
the past is revisited.
This is the root
that analysis and therapy
merely paint pictures of.
Adventure
What will the painter paint,
if the eyes never stray from the canvas.
The poet lives life
and tells tales of its beauty.
Another Adventure
Why is it we look out at the world?
We want to make the world a better place;
we want to change things,
fix things, do things.
Why is it we look
out at the world?
We do not want to look
at our own inner world.
An inner state of restlessness
compels one to painstakingly
avoid that very state.
Recent Works:
Which Way?
Fear not, fellow travellers,
a wondering spirit is
a wandering spirit;
bumbling, bouncing,
wobbling, popping!
A Wild Spirit
Dancing with the wolves,
how can one not dance?
Infused and suffused,
energetic and wild!
Back or Forwards
To wind one’s way back
to the roots of the past,
or to face the sun -
with the winds of time
at one’s back -
the past yielding,
coming in line, towing the line
to forward momentum?
Are there any medals
from past meddling?
Is there anything forgone
from future forging?
Rummaging in the past
can not happen in the past.
A furore into the future
cannot but keep step
with the passage of time.
The Poet
If I become a poet,
let not the day come
when hence I know so;
for on this day
I shall cease to be so.
Hope
When the unconscious isn’t pressing
upon our mind its darkness,
is there something else pressing
upon our mind its light.
Wondering?
If past jealousy rears itself
it burdens the mind
and sabotages the other.
If the unconscious is silent
is Gods voice finally heard -
loud and insistent,
vociferous and eternal?
No More
No more
will the pages dance;
no more grace,
nor caress.
No more,
for the words
shall come from me,
and therefore I shall be
not that which I am
but rather,
that which I am not.
In Time
Indeed as a try and avoid I fail,
for that which I push gathers strength,
and so, becoming harder to push,
I myself lose strength, become tired,
whither...away!
However in time I will regain strength
and try again, of course harder this time.
Silence
What is the silence
the mystics speak of?
For some it is the quiet
of a morning walk
through the forest.
For others it is
the imagined quiet
of a morning walk
through the forest.
Yet as far away
an imagined quiet is
from quiet itself,
so to is silence
from quiet.
It is neither
of the imagination,
nor worldly;
nor is it of the divine,
it is divine!
I Love and Hate
What of all the hate,
and what of all the love,
in this world?
I judge you as worthy of love;
I judge you as worth of hate.
There are many minds
in this world.
Hence it is true,
the world is full of hate;
the world if full of love.
However a daring leap or jolt reveals
beyond small islands of mind,
the towering waves of compassion
amidst an ocean of silence.
Quick?
Quick read fast,
in case you shall
see yourself
in this page -
just a little;
though the inner knows nothing
of fast and slow;
so for some -
indeed at some time -
haste may touch one’s heart.
For others, haste may only
hasten distance and demise.
Guilty or Not?
How strange we are often
so quick to feel guilty for
that which we have not done.
Take a step back, and allow
ourselves time for a deep long breath
to cleanse ourselves,
yielding not a confession,
but clarity.
Disproportionate hallucination
for a person who has been told
and now tells one’s very self:
“I have wronged”.
Be judged not so hastily
by your own prosecution,
in your own courtroom -
of course with not your own defence…
so funny!
Stuck
In the end perhaps
I will only learn from being
walked away from.
Lost
It wasn’t to be,
it never is;
How could it be,
for it was
someone else,
you!
Ageing
Is it strange that
as we now live longer,
we struggle more
to look younger?
Perhaps it is just balance.
The spread of our folds not treated
as the spread of our wings.
The lines on our face
seen as marks
emblazoned by ourselves
out of disrespect;
not as a river delta,
carrying golden treasure
to the sea.
Hope Less
It may seem funny,
perhaps even absurd,
how I have felt
I couldn’t move on…
hope I suppose.
Although the lack of clarity
has not moved on,
time has; and now shall I.
Whether intentionally or not,
you have helped me much.
Thank you and good bye.
I write not to invite response.
Selfishly the letter is written
not for you,
but me.
Beware
Just a little
word of warning…
dare not dream,
for you may well be faced
with your self -
a challenge,
a flowering.
On Circles
Come forth not and yee
shall return into the ebb of life:
stagnation in time rising in fury
to again assuage one’s potential.
Yield not that which we are not:
alas falsity cannot falter;
yet to not yield is to expel
the natural order of things: change;
alas all be it a returning
to one’s self.
Balance
As there is a time for inaction,
there is also a time for action;
one gives rise to the other,
the other gives rise to One.
Responsibility
Fear not the tidings
from one’s outpourings;
perhaps the tidings
be not all good.
Though the fear-ridden
may squirm even more,
inaction swirls around us:
inaction is action nonetheless.
Freedom and Responsibility
Whether through action or not,
wandering this way or that,
though what happens is not an act,
remembering that we are an actor,
and that life is not a stage;
a play yes, but not a stage!
Shadow
Do not hide in the shadows;
there is no merit in such endeavours,
else we would have been born shadowless.
Each shadow perfectly reflects reality.
Running around in another shadow
really is a little messy.
True you will get shade;
watch out that you don’t become shady.
Is not your own shadow enough?
Is not your own shadow to much?
Wisdom
Would it be wise to say
no wisdom is in me?
Perhaps it lurks
unbeknownst to me,
striking at its prey;
and then as deftly, returning;
again quite, hidden.
Whether manifest or not
wisdom will deal false wisdom
its necessary blow
when the time is right.
Acceptance
That which is
has its own truth –
even a falsehood;
its truth not least residing
in its disappearance.
You see, nature has its own way
of dealing with that which is wrong.
Yet those who don’t know,
puzzle over that which is
beyond their reach.
They at times and often
know not even the latter.
Learning of this falsity
has its own truth…
ironically and demonstratively.
The false arises
not without reason,
though at times it feels
like being force-fed
a bitter pill!
Body Beautiful
For some only the physical is seen -
as if a ghost is donned with apparel;
so when like the changing raiment
of this earth through the seasons,
one’s apparel changes -
perhaps from skinny to skeletal,
or from skinny to fat -
our view of the other changes accordingly,
and we move one.
However in seeing only the physical,
a deeper truth is masked.
Our love for the beloved is much more,
yet the physical often times
stands at the fore.
Lust
Love of most kinds
puts raiment on the other,
and then vows to steel it away,
and is called lust.
Love of another kind
see’s a person at depth,
and interferes not
in their choice of apparel.
Advice
So why there be the wise,
unfettered by spiritual politicians,
and why further they proclaim so?
It is not to compel -
it would be wise of you
to go this way!
Rather, it is simply to say,
your doorway is always open;
walk if it is time to do so.
Hunger
What am I supposed to do
when beset with a mountain of hunger?
Am I to climb over it,
or perhaps burrow under it?
Will I fall or will I be buried?
Will it pass or will I pass;
will it consume me
or I consume it?
Perhaps I will appease myself
with just a little.
Many things are going on,
though the matter is simple.
Conversations
How are you going my friend:
ow ya goan made?
Quite well thankyou:
ohhhyeahh preddy goodd dhey
I am glad to here that:
ohh thadsgoodd dhey
I am glad to here that as well:
ohh yeahh, preddy goodd dhey
Directions
From home outside the village
I travel to an unfamiliar place
in the centre of town:
a tall and beautiful building;
a Sunday gathering.
There it is announced,
seek not outside for
the Kingdom of Heaven is within.
Goodness me I thought;
may as well have stayed home.
Seems a nice place though;
may as well stay,
now that I am here.
Modern Psychology
Many of those who study the mind
are under the impression that
emotions are a by-product
of dysfunctional thought processes;
and so by identifying and
straightening out thought processes,
the emotions will simply vaporise.
Turn a light on in a dark room,
and all darkness disappears.
Dysfunctional thought processes
can in partlead a person
down a wrong path,
and so a little mental unravelling
may help, in part, in future situations.
What then of the past?
What if the emotions of the past are banging on the door of our consciousness?
Ironically this would be the reason
for seeking counsel in the first place.
And what of the intertwining relationship
between thoughts and emotions?
Do re-routed, positive, rational,
reasonable thought processes
simply stand firm against
a barrage of emotions?
Nice yes if our unconscious was
clean and unburdened, prior to
entering the mind doctors door.
Thankfully there are body doctors,
mind doctors, heart doctors, and consciousness doctors.
Not This Nor Not That
Much time can be spent -
in fact all time can be spent -
wanting this, not want that:
despair at life’s misfortunes.
Yet right this moment
there is something
that cannot be gained nor lost,
for it is ever our nature.
Such treasure,
every time you care to check,
reflecting this, or not reflecting that;
like a forest pool with an infinite spring
as its source.
Choices
There is no other way
from the mundane to the sacred -
though many have tried to disprove;
fortunate this be so, as this way
wields reason for safe passage.
The Grasshopper
Just now outside I saw
such a tiny grasshopper.
I got to wondering,
will this grasshopper
one day grow into one of those
magnificent large creatures?
Perhaps it was already fully grown;
perhaps it was already very old?
I do not know.
It does not matter.
However I am sure it was not dead and
I am also sure it was a grasshopper,
for it hopped away into the grass.
What else would a grasshopper do?
Voyage
A little moth
upon my leg, then hand…
concerned not to crush it…
where to put it?
With a gentle breath
I send the moth
into the air.
What was I to fear;
it flew away into the breeze.
Perhaps this was its
last fluttering in freedom;
perhaps it was only to land in tragedy,
such grace and beauty.
Avoidance
The strongest of
our inner battles
are fought in the midst
of obsessing with ourselves,
other people, or other things.
As our inner state
threatens to confront us,
that which is of beauty
becomes more so.
Yet in time,
as shadows yield to light,
and hopefully with not to much
of the world laid waste -
thrusting aside fresh embarrassment -
a final night passage shall reveal
a long coming new day.
No more shall avoidance
wield its mighty sword.
Smoking
That game be played with
the same approach as all games.
Inhaling, I gently raise
the cigarette to my mouth;
exhaling as I fold my lips,
caressing the smoke yonder.
Openness
There are those
who would have us
air our musty house,
and fill it with fragrances.
There are others
who would have us
open our windows and doors,
and fill our house
with the stench of a swamp.
Yet no unclean can enter the temple
where a candle’s light burns.
Dreaming of Diamonds
Alas I had
a beautiful dream last night;
as though I was a small,
yet expanding part of an infinite,
silent, yet glistening sky -
as though like a dustless mirror,
with nothing reflecting in it.
This morning I awaken
with a vivid memory;
yet I wonder whether it is
that now I am in a foggy dream,
and that which I dreamt
was and is crystal clear reality.
Shipwrecked
What is the master
but a periscope
for the sunken.
War
Let it not be missed that
though one country may keep
another country from civil war,
the tempest of rage lurks within
the hearts of many of the latter;
though they cannot see
from whence the tempest comes,
nor who owns it.
It be said: it is ‘your’ problem;
though ‘your’ be entirely arbitrary.
Politicians
Is there another way to run -
to ruin - this lovely world,
than pretence, corruption,
and finally, to be deposed?
Not to mention
the blind devils advocate.
At least there be change.
More Politicians
Us and them…
fight, fight, fight.
Though there is as much
of us in them,
and as much
of them in us -
perhaps not now,
but before or then.
Cycles
Do you know how the game goes?
As all things pleasant arrive
so I become these things.
How great I am
to bring such things to me!
Yet as they go, I cannot keep them,
so I pretend that I can.
Falling into unconsciousness,
a pleasant dream engulfs me.
And then, with eyes closed,
how can I not stumble and fall…
and of course, how can I not wake-up!
Winds
Does not the balloon pop
if I continue to blow.
Yet there is a packet full
of unfilled balloons.
So I keep blowing
and popping until
I realise the winds
only pass through me,
and are much vaster
then all the little balloons
past, present, and future,
in all the universe.
The Unseen
It is our inner world -
that we often cannot see -
that makes it look like
the outer world changes
or stays the same.
When the inner world falls silent,
we, like the vast stretches of sand
that receive the changing tides,
will be silent and unmoved.
Differences
To flower according
to one’s unique qualities,
to be allowed expression
according to one’s abilities,
and to receive fruits
according to one’s needs,
this is inequality.
Geese and Bottles
How does one safely
get a goose out of a bottle?
Unfortunately some people
have not an inkling
that there is a bottle,
let alone how to get
the goose out of it -
of course assuming that it would
be nice to be out of the bottle.
Current Affairs
North South
The East see the West
as pursuing not freedom,
but selfishness.
The West see the East
as pursuing not self-lessness,
but slavery;
as seeking not peace,
but oppression.
The Asian Brown Cloud
Snow to Brown Cloud:
Hey brown cloud,
what are you doing
here in the Rockies;
and by the way,
where did you come from?
Brown Cloud to Snow:
Hey I am a foreigner,
but I am not
an illegal immigrant!
I came here legitimately,
just ask the
satellite tracking system.
And don’t worry,
I am not just a blow in;
I am a permanent resident.
Shared Home Equity
How nice it is to share!Come to the lucky country:
Australia!
Did you know
some bright sharing chaps
got together and created
“shared equity finance”.
You see it is
to help those poor folks
who can’t manage to buy
their own home -
the great Australian dream.
Admittedly, on average,
the good folk of Sydney for example,
can’t manage to pay off
their beloved dream
in one lifetime.
And since we in the West
do not believe in reincarnation
this does create a problem.
So there are quite a few
of these poor wretched folks.
Back to the ‘sharing’:
see these nice fellows
in what are called
financial institutions,
allow you to buy the bedroom,
and they’ll buy the kitchen.
Although you still are allowed
to cook your food.
And if the house goes up in value,
you will get a bigger bedroom,
and the sharing fellow will get
a bigger kitchen.
So then I’ll buy the bedroom;
and then when I’m old and dead,
my kids can spend their lifetime
paying off the kitchen;
and when they’re old and dead,
my grandkids can
eat, sleep, and be merry -
such nice sharing fellows.
Can’t afford the great Australian dream?
No troubles - here’s half a dream.
Gee thanks, I’ll sleep well now.
And although I won’t sleep quite so well,
in the morning there will be a new joy
to having breakfast in bed.
Global Hot
Who killed the electric car?
Although in those days
the pollution was thick
in the streets,
people weren’t concerned.
Thankfully people
seem to like heat less,
and so the electric car
will have another run.
Perhaps one day
I will enjoy a morning walk
in city centrals;
listening to the birds chirping,
and smelling the fragrant trees.
Although it may well be pretty hot.
21st Century Man
The 19th century goes to England
and the industrial revolution.
The 20th century is of course America’s.
And the 21st century goes to Corruption;
although I am less than sure
it will bring anything new?
Disclaimer & Conclusion:
It is not for me to say go this way or that, and neither is it for me to even say go at all - nor stay. It is oft repeated that the journey is into the wordless. However I have created my own map, for my own journey, and I testify that the map is authentic. Admittedly I don’t know whether it got me anywhere, but it has been quite a journey - perhaps just in many circles.
If you so much as read any part of my navigational chart, and act there upon, know that you are reading from, and acting on information from, your own chart. I only make one suggestion: if there is a sense that something that I have written and that you have read did not help you, than do not read it again, nor read anything else that I have written.
Admittedly this (perhaps) important piece of information is at the very end of the book. However it is also presented towards the beginning of the book. So if you skipped it till now, and this information is important, such is life! THE END.
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