Empowermental: I Don’t Know

Where there is smoke
There is not always fire,
Where there is holiness
Enlightenment is not always present,

Neither is unholiness
An indication of ignorance,
Though either
May co-occur.

Similarly, popularity
Is not a sign
Of Buddhahood,
Nor is unpopularity.

It’s so difficult
To discern
That I think
To look here is best.

Buddhas may come
And Buddhas may go,
As so do we all
But nobody knows.

Perhaps even
The wide infinite sky
Does not know,
Even though it is forever.

Sometimes I despair
And other times joy overflows
But where these states come from
And where they go
I do not know.