Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is.
In the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom.
We must be diligent today.
To wait until tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?
The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day,
'one who knows the better way to live alone.'
Bhaddekaratta Sutta

In the Seas of Samsara

In the seas of Samsara, we meet
Amidst ruin
We are drowning collectively
Yet, a kind smile
Paves the way
Hope in the hearts of the people
And tranquility in the mind
Quiets the hell
And it dissipates
Freely.
We are our own abusers
We are our own accusers
No one imprisons us, but ourselves
We alone can release
That inner woe
We alone can liberate ourselves
And that liberation begins with love.
No longer attached to the turbulent seas
Samsara ceases to exist.
The illusion evaporates.
We rise.
We are free.

“You are me, and I am you. Isn’t it obvious that we “inter-are”? You cultivate the flower within yourself, so that I will be beautiful. I transform the garabage within myself, so that you will not have to suffer. I support you, you support me. I am in this world to offer you peace, you are in this world to bring me joy.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

“Man…sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” ~The Dalai Lama (when asked what surprises him the most about humanity)

The Opposite

I sought revenge
And misery sought me.
To recreate hell
Only recreates hell.
I then sought refuge
From the revenge I sought
And I began to love
Instead of hate.
With a still mind
I now sleep well.
The former hell
No longer dwells
Inside my heart.
Liberation only came
From seeking the opposite
Of what I thought I needed.
And all disease was quelled.
Not by force,
But by the opposite.

Seeking vengeance only destroys the seeker.

PAWNS

Distraught
Woe bringeth such a heavy weight
Upon these hearts
This humanity
This fear
All of us intertwined
In a hedonistic hell.
Where the merciless dominate
And corporations tell us what to think...
How to think...
When to think...
And politicians spew lies and hatred
They shepherd the people
To our own demise
Like leading lemmings off the cliff.
And many of us will not wake up
To see the truth
Manipulated fools, the many
They fail to realize
That it is possible
For a pawn to become stronger than a king.
If only the pawns
Wake up.