Full Circle

(meditation enlightenment and bullshit)

Part I

"To have a beautiful vision of a buddha does

not mean that you are any nearer becoming one

yourself... And similarly, what ever horrible

monsters may appear to you, there is no cause

whatever for alarm..."

An empty mind is a Buddhists mind

and their poetry

Consists of empty circles

I am at church

Meditation--Enlightenment

I've forgotten what I knew

I am a Skeptical Buddhist

White paper

incensical letters of perfume

being burnt into me

he smiles as he speaks

but before he removes his coat

he reveals his true nature

surveying the class

with his foreign eye

I watch him like TV

Part II

Zen's the art for me-

dad

turmoil in thinking can be--dad

sleep, dreams, want, adds to the butchery--

Mind blank

"Avalokiteshvare Bodhisattva, practicing deep prajna paramita,-"

Dad?

where are you?

"-clearly saw that all five skandhas are empty, transforming

all suffering and distress.-"

Dad?

I hear singing birds...

as I myself fly beneath the canopy...

my wings touch the trickling brown tips--the savanna...

they drink in the spiritual heat of the desert...

clouds in the sky move through the light-blue...

mind...

through the forests...

and quiet dreams...

sitting beneath the singing birds I hear...

I am

Buddha-

"Makyo are the phenomena--visions, hallucinations,

fantasies, revelations, illusory sensations--which

one practicing zazen is apt to experience... Ma means

"devil" and kyo "the objective world." Hence makyo are

the disturbing or "diabolical" phenomena which appear

to one during his zazen.-"

It's beautiful

dad

lightening strikes in the sky

and death holds the beauty of a moonlit ocean

"-Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness,

emptiness no other than form;-"

Two buddha sit as the lotus

beneath the lightening-new moon-petal written sky

it can be said that they touch

while escaping the bounds

of touches color

one buddha

and all buddha

rise

stepping back

studying his ebony dark skin

sitting in peace

his father

also buddha

"-form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly

form-"

the jungles moisture

as nature

moves beneath his feet

"-sensation, thought, impulse, consciousness are

also like this.-"

the sun bleeds upon his body

his body melts into the desert rock

"-Shariputra, all things are marked by emptiness--

not born, not destroyed;-"

from beneath the stars and full moon

the clouds open the sky in it's all out rain

upon his body

a darkened figure takes her form from the shadows

but he is not afraid

"-not stained, not pure; without gain, without loss.-"

she stops before him

her feet melting the new snow beneath

"-Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no

sensation, thought, impulse, consciousness;-"

She takes his hand

"-no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;-"

they walk above the new snow

towards the castle

and city standing years before them

"-no color, sound, smell, taste, touch, object of

thought;-"

their dreams precede them

entering the castle's open door

snow fans across the entrance--desolate

but flame implied shadows invite them

slowly up the steps

to the very end of the hall

a fire burns

where they lie in bed

as they graciously accept

all the castle has to offer...

they grow old

and loose each other on the way

"-no realm of sight to no realm of thought"

the snow has melted

a decade ago

and his feet grow raw

on the glacier littered

rock and gravel

"-no ignorance and also no ending of ignorance-"

the city alone stands before him

he'll find her there

"-no old age and death and also no ending of

old age and death;-"

and maybe pull some weeds from my fathers grave

"-no suffering, also no source of suffering,

no annihilation, no path;-"

If he remembers where

"-no wisdom, also no attainment. Having nothing

to attain,-"

no soul...

...his steps echo on like steps before

and the city has grown too large to be seen

as whole

...Winter Spring Summer Fall Winters

pass and continue to pass again and again...

III

(the city)

his barefeet test the summer hot black top

he quickly jumps back to the warm gray of his sidewalk

he had hoped to wash his hands and face in the public bathroom

there is a certain Zen experience in hand washing

but crossing the street is too hot for his feet

he watches the cars and cabs go by

and notices a quick coin's clink in his styrofoam Seven Eleven coffee cup

resting in his hand

as a prize

like indigo and Indian spice

in it's journey from far away

as from his own past

where had his shoes gone?

his lost vessels for coping

and transcending the street...

In the building's shade

he falls asleep

dreaming of Autumn...

all around

the trees litter leaves

as yellow snow

winds blows

and his hand moves to his sword

reminding him of the fighting

he rides away from

a glimpse

and a running in the woods

take his hand from his hilt

dismounting the horse

...steps like water

fall down the stairs

he wakes

looking at her red pumps

connected to the familiar legs

standing before him

"I've got something for you,"

says an intimate voice

as he stares into the blinding light of the sun

and her facial eclipse

she tosses a new pair of red Keds

on the warm sidewalk before him

"They look about your size."

he ignores the Keds and extends his hands

in attempt to push away the obscuring light

Growing nervous

the woman briskly walks away...

Part IV

The summer night grows mild

she imagines crickets singing to her

stirring up visions of a faraway land...

In her hand she holds the remains of her dinner. She hopes he likes Indian food. She smiles at her attachment to this strange homeless man that lived as a neighbor to her buildings steps for signs of him. Stopping before them she looks both ways down the street for him, but in his seat sits a piece of paper held down by a piece of brick.

`Gone to find my father"

"-Bodhisattvas live prajna paramita

with no hindrance in the mind. No hindrance, thus no fear.

Far beyond delusive thinking, they attain complete Nirvana.

All Buddha past, present, and future live prajna paramita

and thus attain anuttara samyak sambodhi

Therefore, know that prajna paramita is

the great mantra, the wisdom mantra,

the unsurpassed mantra, the supreme mantra,

which completely removes all suffering.

This is truth, not deception.

Therefore, set forth the prajna paramita mantra,

set forth this mantra and say:

`Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi savaha!'"

                                                                                                                           *

*I quote from two sources in this poem:

The Three Pillars of Zen, by Roshi Philip Kapleau

MAHA PRAJNA PARAMITA HRDAYA SUTRA

THE HEART SUTRA, author unknown by me