Espy: Looking at Looking

Dead ending
After much thought,
Not sure where I’m at
Or where I ought to be,

Looking outward,
Looking inward,
Seeing no difference
Or seeing darkness all around,

One minute
Caught up in fantasy,
Next minute
Very realistic,

Looking ahead
And looking behind,
Not seeing much
Through the decades of grime,

Washing the mirror
And looking again,
Seeing the reflection
But not recognizing it,

Can’t believe it
And yet I can,
How did I get here?
Maybe a stupid question,

Making a snack
And getting ready for bed,
Thinking about thinking
Then forgetting it instead,

Up in the wee hours,
Is not good for me,
Delays my morning
And does not make me free.

Espouse: Delving into Impermanence

Impermanence
Is on my mind,
I see it clearly
Whenever I look deeply
Into whatever I find,

My clinging it unbinds,
As I clearly perceive
The pointlessness
Of grasping onto anything;

And too,
Even the experience of
Knowing impermanence
Is impermanent

But if there is a purpose,
It seems to me,
We’re here to know
The freedom of thoroughly knowing:

Suffering
And it’s causes,
Cessation of clinging
And the path to that end,

That all the pleasures
And the pains
Of this world,
Are impermanent,

When one discerns this completely,
This is
The good news of
The Buddha Dhamma,

To discover this
And discern it fully
Is to be wide open to
The truth of the end of suffering.

Espousal: Befriending the Body

Turning towards
The body,
Noticing pain
And considering what to do,

Turning attention to
The low back discomfort,
Settling in with that
And feeling the warmth increase,

Comfort flows
From the attention,
Relaxing the muscles
And bringing relief,

Back of the shoulders
Burns and tenses,
Focusing on that
Feeling the breathing,

Seeing that place
A good location for
Mindfulness of breathing,
As well as soothing,

Stayed with that,
Feeling the vibrations
And expansion and contraction
As the breath moves through,

Mind settling into
Knowing the breath motion
From this vantage point,
Steady and strong,

The breathing continues,
The attention is solid,
Held in place,
With a pleasant embrace.