Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
BE.
Be,
Don't try,

Let thoughts flow,
Don't think.

Move,
Don't operate,

Unsee the unexpected,
Don't anticipate.

BE.
A masterful One hearing of the Tao
immediately begins to embody it.

An average One hearing of the Tao
half believes it and half doubts it.

A foolish One hearing of the Tao
laughs out loud, and yet
should fools not laugh,
it wouldn't be the Tao!


Thus t'is writ:
The path into the light seems dark,
the path forward seems to go back,
the direct path seems long,
true power seems weak,
true purity seems tarnished,
true steadfastness seems changeable,
true clarity seems obscure,
the greatest seem unsophisticated,
the greatest love seems indifferent,
the greatest wisdom seems childish.

The Tao is nowhere to be found,
yet it nourishes and completes all things.

-
--
---
- - -
Reiterated slightly from Stephen Mitchell's iteration.

Implications abound
from ethics to psychology
and onward to quantum physics,
and every quanta betwixt and beyond!
Lizzy Love Oct 2015
There are beings
who say and do.
They live in the future,
always making plans.

There are beings
who say, but don't do.
They live in the past,
dwelling on intentions.

There are beings
who don't say, but do.
They live in the now,
and are fully present.

*What will you choose?
What did you choose?
What do you choose?
© Lizzy Collins
Matt Jun 2015
Gone Gone Gone
Into The Great Beyond

I inhabit a different realm now

I went to chip golf *****
At my usual place

I chipped for a bit
Then drove over to a beautiful park nearby

I sat beneath the trees
A long dirt path behind me

Completely alone
A beautiful afternoon

As I walked down the hill
And saw a lizard doing pushups

It scurried behind a tree

As I found another spot in the grass
Underneath the shade of a tree

I read a chapter
From Bertrand Russel's
The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism
Entitled, Why Russian Communism Has Failed

It appeared as though the black mother and child
That I saw earlier had left

The familiar voices of children playing
On The playground to my right
Could be heard in the distance

American families
Enjoying their American dream

Far to my left a couple enjoys the afternoon
Lying together in the grass

I look above as the birds descend
Across the park
They ride the wind

Simply extending their wings
And gliding across the park
They land on a tree opposite of me

And there was the ice cream truck
Circling its way
Around the park

With the familiar tunes
Of childhood days gone by

Then I came home
She is still announcing
What food is in the fridge

"I can see"
I muttered

Doing everything I could
Not to scream in her face
She just repeats that over and over

And then I went to the nature park
I took pictures of the birds
A video of a lone rabbit too

These animals just do what they do

A woman asked me what was the easiest trail
As I took a picture of the cross
On the monastery gate
I told her the way

I waited until she returned
To see if she would tell me
If she enjoyed the hike

She walked by
Ah well

I no longer seek a companion
I am alone
Forever alone

Oh look
This is the classic
American Scene
A summer American Dream

This is an expensive neighborhood
Don't you know
And fancy cars line the street
In front of the large home in Sierra Madre

Everyone is chatting
This is Tao
I walk by

I wonder if they even realize
That our country hangs in the balance
That our very way of life
May soon end

Oh, they are content
Just to carry on as always
Most people are

Our country has been ruined
Ruined!

A debt we cannot pay

A Chinese, Russian, and U.N. takeover
Likely on its way

Weaponized weather, A grid attack,
Most definitely a total economic collapse

But these Americans just want to enjoy
Their barbecue
As they often do

And on my walk home
Four steps
Thud
Followed by four steps
Thud

And after I go to the gym
I will return
And they will hear the thud
Yes they will hear
As they try to sleep in their beds

Thud

Get ready, Get Ready
Your American dreams will
Soon have gone away

Foot shortages and economic collapse
On its way
U.N. vehicles are here to stay

My therapist told me that
"God never gives us more than we can handle"

She being thirty-six
Accomplished and having had every
Opportunity to succeed in life

Her last words
She uttered a "Take Care"

You know when she told me she was leaving
I cried a bit and composed myself

She said, "I know its a lot to process"
It would have been respectful to be silent
And not say anything
And in that moment
I learned more about her
She did not honor what was sacred

How could she have said that?
Meeting with her was important to me
Quiet, please!
Your words are unnecessary

I didn't say anything to her about that
And that's fine
I had hoped for something higher
A companionship

Blah
To her I was just another client
Another paycheck

I don't trust her
She left me and her other clients

She never said the savior's name
She never said Jesus' name
Just her "higher power"

She told me to email her
If I get a job

I will not ever contact you again

Why are people having kids?
Why the **** are they?
So they can grow up in a FEMA CAMP!

Terrible times are coming for her and for me

That expression
"God never gives us more than we can handle"
Who says that?

Tell that to those who have starved to death
To the German men who spend over a decade
In Russian labor camps

Americans will have a lot to handle soon
And your money
Won't save you

Neither will your **** looks
Or your car

I'll survive
That's all I know how to do

Is to survive
And to keep feeling emptiness
And that ******* therapist
Who left

It was enjoyable
To meet with her
It was consistent

She did not give me much notice

I am pure
I do not engage in ****** *******
Married couples they disgust me
Slamming their privates into each other
Lusting after each other

I do not want to shake another's hand anymore

I do not know
Where that filthy hand has been

******* therapists
I'll never see one again

Remember---They don't really care about you!
Remember!!!

They are there for the money only
And they will sit and lie
Right to your face

Remember to care for yourself
In this world
Trust in Jesus and yourself

On my hike
I greet others with a friendly hello

Perhaps one day
I will meet another friend

I have three I trust now

Until then I will walk the streets alone

The therapist
She left, she left
And she did not give much of a care

Bah
It wasn't her fault
I just shouldn't have allowed myself
To care about our meeting

Now I don't care
I don't work
I don't do anything

Except read
And walk
And listen to podcasts

Gone Gone Gone
Gone Into the Great Beyond

Thud
Can you hear me?

Form is emptiness
Emptiness is form
Tathagata
Focus on the Positive
but do not shun Negative.

Respect the Negative
by way of Positive reflection.

And, indeed, vice versa;
as if some twisted cosmic joke,
yin and yang shall interplay
e'ermore, ad infinitum.
'Vice versa:'
Latin; "the other way around."

'Ad infinitum:'
also Latin; "to infinity; forevermore."
Matt Jan 2015
The world is a system of interrelated components
None of which can survive without each other
Just as in the case with bees and flowers

They arise mutually
Mutual arising
Things go together in a connected net

The whole conception of nature
Is a self regulating mechanism
It has a totality
It all goes together
This totality is the Tao

The more you allow things in your surroundings to take place
The more order you will have
Rep Van Andrews Dec 2013
What is love?
I believe i'm close.
Once I was the victim of love at first sight.
It was a moment of euphoric happiness.
then was that not it?
not so much the person, but more of the moment.
so in a since wouldn't you want to always find these tiny moments?
just a being in life looking for pure moments of love?
isn't that life? billions of tiny moments intrinsically one with a bigger moment?
let us find the people that give us these perfect moments and surround ourselves with them.
let us focus on the moment and thrive there, because that is when we are the happiest.
when one thinks outside they moment they begin to find sadness, or sorrow.
the past, the present, and the future, not the present as situation.
situational present is not the same as current moment because the situation or problem is brought on by the past or the future which creates sadness.
happiness is present moment that is un-situational.
stay in the moment.
that is love, life, now.
some people already live like this, unknowingly or knowingly.
it would not matter.
these few are fortunate and the found ones.
they do not frown, they do not attach.
they love, and thrive with the ones who love.
together they will change the world not purposely or knowingly.
they will change there own realities and the world will change with them.
What is love?
I believe we are close.
Rep Van Andrews Nov 2014
GOD
GOD

A bowl half full
a spoon for measure
dips into and takes
division for pleasure

The soups environment
both spoon and bowl
same as the universe
relatively so

Reality beckons
an environmental flaw
having never even existed
possibly at all

thoughts derived environment
like the grids on a map
take it all away
you’re left with the exact

Define then to me
if you found it to be
the environment fictitious
what that would mean

If reality is then all soup
the soup never divided
if then we are the soup

Why aren’t we reminded?
Matt Sep 2014
I went for a walk
At my old junior college
While the sun was setting

Outside
A corridor is formed
A building on the right
Classrooms on the left

The Sun shining down on the right half
Shade on the left side of the corridor

People walking to and fro
Going to class, Or going to their cars
I was just enjoying the sunset

A maintenance truck drives away in the distance
A guy with  Yankee hat walks by

As I walked back the other way
I saw the most gorgeous brunette
With a gorgeous body
I wished I could have hugged her

The bell tolls
The bright colors
Of the people's clothes

There are certain moments
And this was one
Where you know
You are seeing something truly rare

I took a mental photograph
Of that moment in time

The way this outdoor corridor
Was half light and dark
I walked where the setting sun was shining through

So mysterious this moment was
So rare
I almost cried

It's all I have
The times

I think I will go back there
To see the same time tomorrow

I love the Tao
The Tao is wise mother

It is good to see
To really look
So beautiful

It is so wonderful to watch people walk here and there

It is said a man who understands the Tao can die content in the evening

The shurangama mantra
Is a most holy mantra

The mantra was,
According to the opening chapter of the Shurangama Sutra, Historically transmitted by the Buddha Shakyamuni
To Manjushri Bodhisattva to protect Bhikshu Ananda
Before he had become an Arhat.

I included the link

I hope you enjoy Shurangama Mantra too
There is only the present
Truly live in the present
And you will find eternal bliss

The present is the only place you will ever be
https://archive.org/details/Shurangama_Mantra_000_Lines_001-9_Refuge_Buddhism
Next page