6 Day Retreat

Will be sitting a week long retreat on the East Coast. Will post again when I return.

a birthday poem

what’s the use of looking forward or looking back, when this moment of clarity and focus is full of wonder and blessings? being born is not an event in the usual sense of existence, and we don’t seem to find solace in the constant comings and goings that appear and disappear on this path we have come to call our lives. yet, there are those moments in which we must rest and accept the essence of living in the two worlds. birthdays are like this, we smile and celebrate with those we love and in this sharing learn to love them all the more. Happy Birthday James, may all your days manifest the perfection on life’s unfolding presence.

there is only this moment

there is only this moment within the cosmic unfolding of eternity, we can not control it we can not know it nor can we direct or divert it, we are, at best an observer of this now. we do not trust in this, yet this is all that there is, this is the nature of the reality in which we seek. do not mistake aspiration for desire, it is this that most do not understand in sakyamuni’s teaching. he did not say to detach from our lives, he merely tried to teach about the difference between aspiration and desire. desire contains “I” aspiration is about “we” so what can we do? just believe in this moment and all is well. this is OK but some think that their way or idea or religion will save this cosmos from itself what folly is this? we can not know– we can not be– we can not accept all that is diverse, for we have not the capacity nor the insight to realize all that is real or all that is illusion. we are now. we are this. and just this. is all that there is. love is all. and love is now.

the edge

living life at the edge of my existence, bringing meaning to ideas where none exist. struggling between the two worlds; one complex and calculating, the other vast as transparent space. to be born into this world is our first mistake. to live life not of this world is our only liberation. attachment causes heartache— non-attachment allows compassion, opinions fall like dust into the ocean. desires transform to aspiration. being at this edge requires another step be taken. the birds outside sing to one another— their song unites all who can hear.

Trungpa Rinpoche

being no–one, going no–where, a light rain falls on my head. mist envelops the mountain tops. the staff in my hand steadies the trail down. sitting with Trungpa I chant the Great Dharani; circumambulating the Stupa rain splashes from it’s roof. upon parting transcending the three worlds, vowing to become Buddha and save all beings; the mantra of shattering Hell: om gar ra ji ja sa ba ha om gar ra ji ja sa ba ha om gar ra ji ja sa ba ha.