Having seen oneself
Utterly lost in the world
Bow down
With ease
Look upIn gratitude and grief
There are waves of light flashing through the trees
In gratitude and grief
Buddha is here.
Another poem which will be read at the cremation ceremony.
In the entire ten directions
Of the Buddhist universe
There is only one way
When we see clearly there is no difference in the teachings.
What is there to lose?
What is there to gain?
If we gain something, it was there from the beginning.
If we lose something, it is hidden nearby.
Zen Master Ryokan
Sitting with Jill this afternoon, I didn’t want to leave.
She’s hidden nearby….
For the March edition of the Field of Merit Newsletter I wrote a follow-on piece to my last post. The title is Water, water everywhere. Here is an extract:
There is a blackbird on the kitchen windowsill; jet black against the brilliant white snow with bright yellow beak and distinctive yellow eye-liner. Exquisite! It’s not often one can observe a wild creature at such close quarters. But what is it doing there?
Now, having returned to Eastern Cumbria, there is a lot of catching up to do after being away for a whole month. It has been a good and varied one taking in North Yorkshire, Berkshire, Devon and Cornwall. And Northumberland too of course. Hopefully I’ll now get back into the swing of writing regularly.
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You know, the trouble is I know there is nothing I can do to make myself feel or be better. He replied, That’s Dukkha! And I had to smile. It is so true. Yes, sometimes a little bit of this or a little bit of that will help alleviate suffering but in the ultimate sense there is nothing that can be done to get rid of it. And knowing that to be true can help with accepting and being with pain. Battling pain IS suffering. Being with pain is…..just pain.
I have a stinker of a cold at the moment. The worst one for years and years. Running nose, sneezing constantly and explosively, headache, exhausted. And to top that I’m jointly responsible for running a retreat. The theme is The Four Seals of Dharma, one of those seals is Dukkha. Nothing like the Dharma showing up, true in the moment.
But do not worry. It will pass. The sneezing will end the dripping nose will stop, the wind will abate (blizzard conditions here at Throssel) and fairly soon the sun will be out again. In the mean time…I’ll endeavour to walk and sit with few complaints. That only makes matters worse!
The most recent post on Field of Merit, Moving and Changing by Rev. Alicia could not come at a better time. Could it be that the process of having and living with a cold or a more serious health issue be about creativity? In a certain way I think it is…oh but wait a moment, here comes another sneeze. I can leave my thoughts on that for another time.
I would write a poem
A-string-of-words
to say goodbye.
But you are the poet.What say you?
now as you pass
onwards yet remain.
In our heart.I hear only
silence
See only
brightness.The spark that
you are will
never die
For me at least.
For Jill who died last evening. And for her husband and family and sangha friends too.