I don’t have any answer to this riddle of violence
John Roedel
we are watching warfare play out on tik tok
we are live-tweeting during the fall of Rome
we are building our echo chambers on YouTube
we are bloodletting through a camera of a drone
I have never believed that the devil exists
but I no longer have the luxury of being aloof;
as our indifference toward this wheel of hate
for me, has become a convincing article of proof
~ evil isn’t always an open, slobbering and screaming mouth
~ evil doesn’t always show up at our door looking like a hungry bear
~ evil will often wear an ornate altar robe to hide their sharp sword
~ evil can be a sermon of vengeance that’s disguised as a prayer
~ war is usually the wailing love child of two ancient wars
~ that had a one-night stand under a dripping blood moon
~ revenge is a planet-killing comet that only creates new comets
~ an eye for an eye will leave us all completely blind soon
I don’t have any answer to this riddle of violence
I don’t know how to avert this slow-motion doomsday
I hope we will start to dig gardens instead of trenches
I am begging that soon we will embrace a gentler way
I can’t believe that searching for peace is a fool’s errand
I am okay being a cliche of a man wearing
Peace Dove tights
I will keep begging to Creation to thaw this winter of our hate
and to remind us that we forged to become children of lights
~ john roedel
I Have No Name
I have no shelter;
I am as the wandering waters.
I have no sanctuary, like the dark gods;
Nor am I in the shadow of deep temples.
I have no sacred books;
Nor am I well-seasoned in tradition.
I am not in the incense
Mounting on the high altars,
Nor in the pomp of ceremonies.
I am neither in the graven image,
Nor in the rich chant of a melodious voice.
I am not bound by theories,
Nor corrupted by beliefs.
I am not held in the bondage of religions,
Nor in the pious agony of their priests.
I am not entrapped by philosophies,
Nor held in the power of their sects.
I am neither low nor high,
I am the worshipper and the worshipped.
I am free.
My song is the song of the river
Calling for the open seas,
Wandering, wandering,
I am Life.
I have no name,
I am as the fresh breeze of the mountains.
The moon illuminates a thousand peaks with the brilliance of daylight
The moon illuminates
a thousand peaks with
the brilliance of daylight.
The sound of the bell
falls on my pillow
of old friend’s poems.
In my thin monk’s robes,
unafraid of the frost’s
bitter cold harshness,
I rise, and roll up
the thin window blinds,
and I sit alone in the
depths of the night.
— Tesshu Tokusai (1366)
With thanks to Dakotah Sky Walker
Look deeper
You stop to point at the moon in the sky,
but the finger’s blind unless the moon is shining.
One moon, one careless finger pointing –
are these two things or one?
The question is a pointer guiding
a novice from ignorance thick as fog.
Look deeper. The mystery calls and calls:
No moon, no finger – nothing there at all.
– Ryokan
from the book “The Poetry of Zen”
Delight
Delight
Sacchariferous droplets Enchant
Luscious Frondescence Transfixed
My tempest now harmonious
As sunlight breaks through Velvety clouds
Embrace blossoms Delight
Entwined
Divine
One salty tear
Written by~ Elaine Byrne
When I rise up
There is a hole in my sidewalk
Chapter 1
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost… I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter 2
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend that I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in this same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit … but, my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter 4
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter 5
I walk down another street.
Source: THERE’S A HOLE IN MY SIDEWALK ~a poem by Portia Nelson
If you don’t mind my bare hospitality, please keep wandering in
A stick of incense stands by my pillow. When the lantern dims, I pour some oil. I add more clothes as the night deepens. If you don’t mind my bare hospitality, please keep wandering in.
~ Ryokan
So the darkness shall be the light
shall be the light ,
and the stillness the dancing.– T. S. Eliot
Stream of life
runs through the world and
dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves
of leaves and flowers.It is the same life that is rocked
in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.I feel my limbs are made glorious
by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages
dancing in my blood this moment.~ Rabindranath Tagore ~
Many paths lead from The foot of the mountain
Many paths lead from
The foot of the mountain
But at the peak
We all gaze at the
Single bright moon
Ikkyu painting by Ito Jakuchu, 18.c.
Source: (1) Bradley Ross Coutts
Flowers of Death
Flowers of Death
by Г. Аюурзана
Excerpt from “Үхлийн Цэцэгс”
translated by Lisa Fink
Thousands of flowers without scent or color sway.
The smallest sigh’s echo
Is followed by eternal calm and an infinite dream.
Үс сэрвэлзэх ч салхин үгүй талд
Үнэр, өнгөгүй түмэн цэцэг найгана.
Үл мэдэгхэн санаа алдахын цуурайг
Үүрдийн тайвшрал, мөнхийн зүүд залгана.
I Am Not Merely Human
From the book The Practice of Loneliness (Ганцаардлын Дасгал / Gantsaardaliin Dasgal)
by L. Olziitogs
Translated into English by Lisa Fink
I Am Not Merely Human
I look at a mountain and know that I am mountain
I observe mist and perceive that I am cloud
After rain sprinkles I sense that I am grass
As soon as the sparrow’s twittering begins, I remember
that I am morning
I am not merely human
When a star flares up I know that I am darkness
As soon as girls shed their thick winter clothes, I remember
that I am spring
When I smell only longing from every person in the universe
My ever more tranquil heart understands that it is a fish’s
I am not merely human
Under a multi-colored sky the immense VOID,
From today on I, only…
Original in Mongolian:
Уулыг хараад би уул гэдгээ мэддэг
Униар мананг ажаад үүл гэдгээ мэдэрдэг
Бороо шивэрсний дараа өвс гэдгээ сэрдэг
Богширгоны жиргээ эхэлмэгц өглөө гэдгээ санадаг
Би хүн л биш
Од дүрэлзэхийн цагт харанхүй гэдгээ мэддэг
Охид нимгэлээд эхэлмэгц хавар гэдгээ санадаг
Ертөнцийн хүн бүрээс гагц хүсэл л үнэртэхэд
Ерөөс амгалан зүрх минь загасных болохыг ойлгодог
Би хүн л биш
Өнгө өнгийн тэнгэр дор аугаа их ХООСОН,
Өнөөдрөөс эхлээд би, зөвхөн…
Zen Flash 
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