One Bright Pearl

During zazen this morning I had several great ideas for today’s post, and I can’t remember any of them.  Letting go of thinking doesn’t oppose great ideas. It just doesn’t cling to them. This not clinging isn’t aversion to thought. Thoughts come and go. Non clinging and non aversion do not originate from a position [...]

the cicadas song
disappeared
only the soft whisper
of falling leaves
brush my tent

People do not think much of me
Setting that aside
The trees, forest and night sky’s bright stars
Are my home
Their language alone I understand
The golden wind exposes me
Autumn leaves fall to the ground
All I am is here

At every turn I am obstructed. In the ordinary sense, my way forward is blocked. Living homeless in America is no easy thing. And yet, dropping my obstruction, life is just this - no obstruction. All I can do is live this obstruction today. As a reminder to my self I thought that I would [...]

To flow is not a river and is not time. It can be a raging torrent or a wall. Thinking about flowing, misses the mark but flows none the less. Flowing happens now. What is flowing ceaselessly. In the moment of flow it is not flowing. Turning around, it flows through innumerable kalpas throughout the [...]

I’ve had vocation on my mind for quite a long while, probably most of my adult life, this thirty odd years. There are a lot of things, a lot of subjects that I have come to know. A few I am pretty adept at but no joy has manifested there to sustain my interest, my [...]

lost the job
lost the car
lost the wife
lost the house
lost all my money
lost all hope
in this cool autumn breeze
found myself

“… it is precisely by seeking the way of the unconditioned, being one with conditions where the ego doesn’t intervene, that is the true repayment of gratitude.”
Indeed. Dana manifested in the way of non-gaining mind. No position to defend.  East gate, West gate, North gate, South gate… No gate, wide open, available.
I have spent [...]

Off the beam is exactly that. Thank earth for practice and intention… or is it intention and practice? Who knows?
Just when all seemed lost, a space opened up, and through that gap the universe spoke. Everything fell away, and the calming radiant voice of Beate Stolte showed the way back home. The beam is never [...]

Each passing day I mourn the loss of contact with my children. I mourn the loss of friendship with Kirstin.  I am unable to comprehend the fear that would drive one to denying their children an afternoon with their father. I can only conclude that Kirstin is suffering terribly. If you, Kirstin, should read this, [...]