Comrades: Friendly Spirits

The daemons doze,
Their little tails
Curled around
Their scaly bodies.

Meanwhile, Horse,
Bear,
And Young Woman
Stay close by my bed;

I stroke Horse’s head,
And give Bear a hug;
I know this reads like
Some kind of fairy tale!

All is calm,
And I rest carefree,
Unperturbed by anything,
Breathtakingly still:

No waves break
The pond,
Nor stir
The muck below;

I don’t know
How far
This will go,
But it is so enjoyable.

Who knew
Fantasy could be
So real,
Or so comforting?

I never would have guessed,
No, not ever predicted
That such esoteric practice
Could bring such peace.

Comprehensive: Everything and Nothing

Have I finally lost
My sanity?
I have found an intriguing practice*
That involves visualization,

Interacting with one’s daemons,
And feeding them
Until they fade
And become allies.

Mostly
I’ve been feeding shark-like creatures
Until they thin out
And transform.

My mind has conjured up a team:
A female protector,
A horse, and a bear;
What next, I’ll tell you:

One day, while I was
Ruminating on my plight
The Bear said,
‘Try seeing things my way!’

To which the Horse added
‘You tell it, Bear!’
And so I traded places
And now see how this works:

This practice is said to reveal
The inherent emptiness
Of all phenomena, and so it does!
How fascinating!
Not to mention, entertaining.
Am I faking?
You decide.


_______________

*Feeding Your Demons, by Tsultrim Allione (New York: Little Brown & Co., 2008)

Comprehensible: Plain Talk

If you can’t make
Things better,
At least don’t
Make them no worse:

It’s so obvious,
Not even Buddhist,
Just not so common sense
Because naturally it’s quite uncommon.

But by all means
Make things better
If you can,
Which may be small:

Even taking off
One’s wet socks
And putting on
A dry pair,

Or donning
Clean underwear,
Or getting up
From one’s chair;

Even making supper
Can please,
And bring ease;
It’s really a breeze;

Even a good sneeze
Into a hanky
Can bring relief and a smile
To one’s countenance.

There’s no trouble
In less suffering
No loss in less difficulty,
Even if one never awakens,
Or even gets a taste of that feast.