At a Zen temple
I chanted
and blended in
with the Sangha
as though
we were all one being
with one voice,
so another time
I decided
to stand out
as an individual
and chant in my own way,
and then another time
I couldn't keep up
with the group singing
and was kind of
left out of it,
so the world is
one world
with one heart
and one love
as I just read
in another poem,
but this brings up
love and fear
as some think
about the human family
while others think about
One World Government,
and some think
about imagining one world
at peace
while others think about
Business Globalization,
so I think
this is life
and we should embrace
whatever comes
because whatever
will come
and I try
to approach
this one world
with fearlessness
and equanimity.

Buddha says
to have no outflows
and I have recently noticed
that I have powerful outflows
in my meditation practice
so I decided to try
some new practices
which are nothing new
and they are
just sitting,
just standing,
and just dancing,
and those sound simple
but there is more to it
that you might imagine.

The body
needs a direction
to go in
so it needs someone
to guide it,
like the mind
where I sit,
invisibly,
guiding the body
and the mind,
and I have learned
a thousand techniques,
none of which truly work,
so I get lost
because the body/mind
without guidance
can certainly
get into trouble.

There's a lot of news
these days
about the one percent
who have all the money
and the ninety nine percent
of us
who don't have much
of anything
so I got thinking
about how sad and unfortunate
it must be
to be the one percent
with stalkers and identity thieves
and the media attacks
and the hatred towards them
and how they have to protect themselves
in their fortresses
clinging to their fortunes
dreaming like Citizen Kane
of the happy times
in their chilhood, sledding,
when they were poor
while us ninety nine percent
who are the lucky ones
like me with my income of poverty
are greedy for a piece of them
so I even want a million dollars
even though I have enough
of everything
so I don't know if any of this
is true,
but think of a rich person
sitting on his toilet...
where is his money then?

When I get out of bed
at night,
the mind is quite nuts
because it is on auto-pilot,
and stuck in an in-between
dream and awakening state,
and the autonomic nervous system
is what is working,
in it's automatic way,
but I get nervous
that maybe some demons
crawled into my ears
while I was asleep,
so I begin to meditate,
and that calms me,
but I shouldn't be afraid
of that lizard mind
because it could well
be illuminating.

"Practice
a deep, warm flowing
give and take
of the radiation
to the exclusion
of all"
is a dharma
which has been growing
inside of me
for a few days
that I am ready
to file away
so I am giving
it to you
in the hope
that it helps.

There's this
cigarette
burning to my left,
that I just picked up
and took a puff from,
so then I adjusted it's ash
and took another drag,
and it's got some good qualities
and it's got some bad qualities,
but what I see
is it's quality,
this white paper
smoking round
thing with the line
and lettering
that I just pick up
and smoke.