Nimble: Sutta Reading*

Seeing between the lines
laughing at my own folly
securely in touch

*Here I had been thinking about a Sutta I read some time ago, where the Buddha supposedly declared, "I am Brahman," which had confused me at the time, given his supposed teachings about the "self," but then later it occurred to me that although this could be true it was also kind of a joke because based on what I know now it does not matter.  One of the clues was from several other talks I heard that referenced the Suttas as being full of puns that you had to understand the original Pali language to get and some of the texts turning out to be making fun of texts from other traditions.

Nibbana: Haiku III

Not all the time and
not even every day but
cessation's 'in play!'

Nibbana: Haiku II

Bringing attention
to all that I do,
to see cessation shine through

Nibbana: Haiku

Saving energy
to see the cessation of
sufferings's arise

Nibbana: Everyone

I see suffering;
I see misery
But I also see
that it has an end!

And that
this
end
is...
glorious!

The Buddha reported
His methods supported
Seeing beyond
the imagination.

And this
is so.
But
How?

Because,
as for what
is beyond
the imagination...

It is
what is
of course!
And that I can see.

And that
everyone
can
see,

If they look carefully
with
a clear mind
and a still body.

Nibbana: adukkha

When I had stilled the body with the four Jhānas and the mind was thereby concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady and [imperturbable] (MN36), I directly knew: when the body, the mind and the self are set aside, nothing terrible happens.

Establish: Garbage in, Garbage Out

There’s nothing to be attained and there’s no one here to attain it,
Or so I’ve heard.

But then, who is typing this?

Nobody is typing this.
In fact, there is no typing either.
But what does this mean?
UNKNOWN.

How then do you stop clinging?
YOU can’t.
Because, there’s no YOU to cling,
No YOU to stop clinging,
No clinging and no not clinging.

It’s all a dream
And there’s nothing outside the dream,
As the dream is no different from what there is.
But what is the nature of this dream/what there is?
UNKNOWN.

SYSTEM MEMORY INSUFFICIENT
THIS PROGRAM HAS PERFORMED AN ILLEGAL OPERATION AND WILL BE SHUT DOWN.
SYSTEM CRASH
MEMORY PURGED
SYSTEM RESTART
IGNORANCE IS BLISS,
FOLLOWED BY
SUFFERING,
FOLLOWED BY
THERE IS SUFFERING
BUT WHO IS SUFFERING?
NOBODY.
REALIZATION.
CESSATION OF SUFFERING.
DATA ENDS.

But if I want to eat now,
I still have to make supper!

Endeavouring: Exploring the Stream

If there were a division
Between Nirvana and Samsara,
Nirvana would be unattainable
But as there is no separation,
There is nothing to attain,

Nevertheless, Nirvana is realized
But what is realized?
We all live in delusion
And will continue to do so,

But as this delusion is shared,
There is no reason for sorrow
And yet there is ample justification for compassion,
As attachment to this delusion produces much suffering;

But the good news is
This suffering is
Not distinct from Nirvana,
As they are inseparable;

Looking through suffering,
One sees Nirvana
And looking through Nirvana
One sees there is suffering,

The one supports the other,
So one needs to let go of both
And yet there is no need to let go of either,
For holding on is inseparable from letting go.

Suffering is really no different from not suffering,
So there’s nothing to worry about,
One is always secure,
Always safe;

It’s said that
In understanding one Noble Truth,
For example, suffering, one understands them all.
YES! I think perhaps this is so.

Broaden: Opportunity

Perhaps we blind ourselves;
Maybe ignorance and delusion
Are activities,
Awake, our natural state.

Then when you just sit,
You may awaken because
You eventually stop trying to
Put yourself to sleep.

Perhaps it’s the thinking too;
We think and
Get caught up in this:
Believe this
Follow that
Attach to this
And Grab that.

At the same time
Words can awaken us,
But then when
We succeed,
We must let go of them too.

If I could follow my thinking
Until I get there,
And then let go;
If I practice grabbing
And letting go;
If I become expert at this
Then perhaps I would have
A choice,
And then when I break free
Maybe then I could stay free,
Instead of getting caught again.

Bedimmed: Confused Insights

I get so confused sometimes,
But from this confusion emerges
Such insights!

* * *

Life is a mistake,
a beautiful mistake!

* * *

Today I came to the conclusion that I am dead, that is, nothing but a walking, talking, thinking, breathing corpse.

Then I thought, ‘that’s not something you see every day, . . . or is it?’

Could it be that awakening is merely waking up and realizing you are a corpse, surrounded by other corpses?

Then perhaps ignorance is only being a corpse and not knowing it.

Where then do you go from here?

Perhaps I should buy a plot and bury myself, or maybe I already have, and that’s where I am now.

If not, what is it that gets buried in cemeteries then? Could these be the live ones?

Or, is that just the maggots, the rodents, and the insects playing with their food? (GRINS)

About-turn: Buddha’s Story

As explained earlier, the searing pain of Fibromyalgia motivated me to seek answers. Having already exhausted the affordable medical and naturopathic options, I immersed myself in an imaginary realm of my own creation. In the process of attempting to manufacture this escape route I decided I had to create a religion for one of my characters. Searching the Internet for ideas brought me back to Buddhism. Last time, I concluded that while this expedition had revitalized my fiction, it had not improved my reality. Then, I stumbled across an audio book by Jack Kornfield called, Beginner’s Guide to Buddhism (Louisville, USA: Sounds True 2002).

In this work, Kornfield explains that he is going to describe the “essential practices and teachings offered by the Buddha,” which originated 2500 years ago. “The word Buddha means one who has awakened . . . to their true nature and sees it in all beings,” he says, adding “we too can discover this in ourselves and the teachings of Buddhism are a way to fulfill that reality.”

‘Okay, Jack, but how in the world is this going to help me?’ I silently complained to thin air.

But by this time I was so desperate and I felt so ill that I lacked the energy to get up and turn the flipping thing off, so I continued listening anyway.

Now I learned that prior to his awakening, the Buddha lived a sheltered privileged life, but one day his view of the world was shattered by his observation of the prevalence of suffering, in the form of sickness, aging, and death. At the same time, he discovered that others too were already seeking answers to the problem of how to respond to these unpleasant realities. At once, he resolved to join in this quest. After years of searching and struggle he finally found a way to free himself from suffering. Out of compassion he committed himself to teach others the path to liberation.

This bit caught my attention, to say the least, but then he broke off from the tale and explained how he became a monk in a monastery, where he learned the practices of this path.

Then, returning to the thread, he identified the central core of the teachings as "The Four Noble Truths." These are: the truth of suffering or dissatisfaction (which I thought I already knew all too well), the causes of suffering (which I had concluded were pain and more pain), the cessation of suffering (I wish!!!), and the path to this end (I can hardly wait!!!).

Next time: okay, I’ve heard the truths, but I’m still suffering. Now what?