Equanimity: Trading Frustration for Insight

I am so frustrated,
So very frustrated
But
What of the Buddha?

Even the Buddha
For all his powers
Could not stop
People from being people;

He could not stop
Reality from being reality,
Nor stop anyone
From falling into darkness,

All he could do was
Show people a possible way,
A way to get out
But he could not free anybody,

How frustrating,
How frustrating!
How relevant
To my situation,

I want to help people
But the obstacles
Seem so insurmountable
At times,

Greed gets in the way
Ignorance gets in the way
Ill will gets in the way
And all the consequences of these get in the way,

How like
The Buddha’s predicament,
For even with all he had going for him,
Even he could not change this.

Equable: Practice Rejuvenated

Bringing comfort
To a mind
That’s had
Better days,

More years behind
Than ahead,
Is a theme
That’s been coming up

And so,
All the more
Important that
Practice be more active;

And as the days
Grow shorter,
The practice time
Grows longer,

Reflection too
And contemplation,
As well as reading through
The Suttas in translation,

Finding
Much to consider
And methods
To apply

But mostly
Right effort
Is the technique upon which
I rely,

After spreading
Good feelings
Throughout the mind/body,
I watch to see what arises
And respond as skillfully as I can.

Epic: The Unending Search

Joyfully seeking,
No boundaries,
No grasping,
Only expansion of attention,

For I know not
What I’m seeking,
No solution
Is apparent,

Could it be
This is the destination:
To just keep looking,
Never finding,

For,
When I find,
I find no satisfaction,
Or merely cling

But when I seek,
Not knowing
What the answer
May be,

Never stopping,
Never settling down,
Nowhere to sit,
Nowhere to stand,

Looking all ways,
All at once,
Waiting
For a response,

Everything
Is wide open
And I just
Feel free.