re-calling bodhicitta

remembering bodhicitta..
the awakened heart..
the awakened mind..
the heartmind..awake

defined simply ~

the arising of spontaneous
and limitless compassion
for all sentient beings
&
the falling away of attachment
to the illusion
of an inherently existent self....

camels, monkeys and boars

o my!
and..
at least three hundred thousand humanoids..
on pilgrimage..
for the kalachakra..
for circumambulation of the great stupa..
for general mischief making amongst the high holies..

rains have come w/ the typhoon
which lessened the dust...
leaving us all in mud..
now dry again..
dust again..
imagine robed monks, tibetans,
chai wallahs and westerners
all wearing masks to keep
our noses clean..

finding easy breath is not an easy task..
though that is the instruction from the buddha..
on the winds of humanity i am blown about..
contentent is also the instruction..
always maintain a happy mind..

confession:
i have cut in line twice!
i have no explanation..no excuse..
yogini behaving badly..

(a friend here has said that
i am living off of my good merit..
i feel certain that two cuts
in line bring me back to zero..
~ time to start accumulating
positive deeds once again..
back of the line i go..)

transience

transience..the state of being brief and short-lived....

transient, the wandering poor...
a homeless person..
a bum..a hobo..
a traveler..a wanderer..

mono no aware...
a feeling of transience -
the pathos of things..
an empathy toward things..sensitive to ephemera ..
japanese ~ awareness of impermanence and the transience of things -
a gentle sadness or wistfulness at their passing...


SAITAN New Year`s Poem
Shodo Harada Roshi 2012

the dragon is bringing forth great waves and drinking up heaven and earth
difficulties have opened our eyes, cutting through the root of life and death
pressed by a rock, hanging from a cliff, the flower grows upside down
the wish for new life comes forth, the source of great peace

india..a dream..transitory.
leaving seattle ..
many watched as i dragged my bags behind me..
joining the ranks..
a transient..a wandering fool..
heading to the great land of wanderers..
ah! home sweet om..

here in the mud and muck of holy molies..
i laugh and sing and dance my way
to the edge of the precipice..
over and over and over..
the eighty foot buddha winks at me
in dusky dust of morning..
we chuckle over the big joke..
hot water..electricity..
in a blink...gone! gone! gone!

artist, come home

remember how bright it is,
the old rabbitbush by the hall light?

one of the blackberry vines has
reached all the way to the clothesline.

there isn't any way to keep
the kitchen window from tapping.

the tea kettle had one of its meditative
spells yesterday.

i am thinking again of that old
plan - breakfast first, then the newspaper.

they say maybe they won't have
that big war this year after all.

a frog is living under the
back step.

~ william stafford

sex, drugs and rock & roll

what would those be to a yogini..?
...i thought to myself as i stepped out of the shower...
hummmmmmm?

sex would be the ecstatic asana
w/ a moderate dose of brahmacharaya ~
drugs would be the pranic winds, the amrit..the drops..
riding on the vehicle of breath ~
rock & roll would be stillness
infused with the sound of aum..

the same..only different..
there are many ways to kneel and kiss the ground

solstice poultice

night in day*

the night never wants to end, to give itself over
to light. so it traps itself in things: obsidian, crows.
even on summer solstice, the day of light's great
triumph, where fields of sunflowers guzzle in the sun-
we break open the watermelon and spit out
black seeds, bits of night glistening on the grass
~ joseph stroud

i wrote to someone yesterday about the longest day coming..
it is the shortest day..yes?
it seems every day lasts a lifetime these days in night

o my o
the light yesterday
what tunnel did it escape from?
from dust to dust..
we are space particles..
we are cosmic dust bunnies..
we are night eating day..
day eating night..
eating crow!


visible light is electromagnetic radiation
whose wavelength falls within the range
to which the human retina responds,
i.e., between about 390 nm (violet light) and 740 nm (red).
white light consists of a roughly equal mixture
of all visible wavelengths,
which can be separated to yield the colors of the spectrum,
as was first demonstrated conclusively by newton.
in the 20th century it has become apparent
that light consists of energy quanta
called photons that behave partly
like waves and partly like particles.
the velocity of light in a vacuum is 299,792 km per second.


*a bird black as the sun
california poets on crows & ravens

our mother of perpetual smiles

that is what i call my winter hat..
given as a gift a few seasons ago..
it is hot pink with fern green trim..
looks alot like dipsy's hat,
(the lime green teletubbie)
-cheque out their theme song-

the hat rises to a point like the buddha's ushnisha
and brings a smile to many a face..
cars driving by give me a thumbs up..
drivers mouth the words :
love your hat !
where did you get that hat?

what concerns me though..
even when i don't wear my fine hat..
people are smiling broadly as they see me..
it must be that my hair is sooo short
and my body is sooooo big..
with all my winter coats and vests and scarves..
i look like a pin-headed michelin man..bibendum ~
or a cone-headed pillsbury doughboy..poppin' fresh ~

no matter..
the world smiles when they see me coming..

as louis armstrong says:
when you're smilin'....keep on smilin'
the whole world smiles with you
and when you're laughin'....keep on laughin'
the sun comes shinin' through
and the whole world gonna smile with..
the great big world will smile with..
the whole wide world will smile with...... you!