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The Roses of Saadi

I wanted to bring you roses this morning;
But I had closed so many in my sash
That the knots were too tight to contain them.

The knots split.
The roses blew away.
All blew off to the sea,
borne by the wind,
Carried to the water, never to return.

The waves looked red as if inflamed.
Tonight, my dress is still perfumed.
Breathe in the fragrant memory.


Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (Translated from French).

Daily activity is nothing
Other than harmony within.
When each thing I do is
Without taking or rejecting,
There is no contradiction anywhere.
For whom is the majesty
Of red and purple robes?
The summit of the inner being
Has never been defiled by the dust of the world.

- P’ang Yun

Buddha said, if you want to
know the realm of buddhahood,
you must make your mind
as clear as empty space
and leave false thinking
and all grasping far behind,
causing your mind to be
unobstructed wherever
it may turn.
- Ta Hui (12th c)

My new Province is a land of bamboo groves;
their shoots in spring fill the valleys and hills.
The mountain woodman cuts an armful of them
and brings them down to sell at the early market.
Things are cheap in proportion as they are common,
for two farthings I buy a whole bundle,
I put the shoots in a great earthen pot,
and steam them over the boiling rice.
Their purple nodules broken,
they suggest an old brocade;
their white skin gleams like new pearls.

PO CHU-I (A.D. 772-846)

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Jelaluddin Rumi

I went out on a pier.
The intent was very long but the pier was very short.
Alas, I fell into the waters...
... And in their Briny depths discovered...

Humans don't breathe so good without gills!

FMF and Divegeester, I'm surprised that you two have not flagged poster WitlessoLee for so few chess playing participation yet eagerness to bring his/her juvenile sarcasm to the Spirituality Forum.

If some other poster with positive things to say about the Bible did that I know Divegeester would be all over him with statistics.

Ole WitlessoLee with her/his lampooning and insulting jab gets a BIG PASS of your scrutiny ?

We have not once sought to be one in a family, to be a friend among friends, to be a worker among workers, to be a useful member of society. Always we tried to struggle to the top of the heap, or to hide underneath it. This self-centered behavior blocked a partnership relation with any one of those about us. Of true brotherhood we had small comprehension.

— TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 53

---
i find disconcerting that the words used to describe to alcoholics their disease also apply to behaviors of humans in general...

this is because of my own expectations,
my limitations,
my own flaws...

No one is seen
in deserted hills,
Only the echoes
of speech are heard.
Sunlight cast back
comes deep in the woods
And shines once again upon the deep moss.

- Wang Wei

The good rain knows its season.
Come spring, it comes to life again.
With the wind, so stealthy in the night
Moistens all things, so delicate, so silent.
On the wild paths, clouds all black.
From river skiff, a lamp, the single light.
In morning's glow, the red wet spots:
Flowers weigh down upon Brocade Mandarin.
- Tu Fu (712-770)

The realm of buddhahood
is not some external world
where there is a formal "Buddha."
It’s the realm of the wisdom
of a self awakened sage.

- Ta Hui (12th c)

---
new day
God bless everyone
no exceptions

Light rain –the mountain
forest is wrapped in mist,
slowly the fog changes
to clouds and haze.
Along the boundless
river bank, many crows.
I walk to a hill overlooking
the valley to sit in zazen.

- Ryokan (1758-1831)

The answer is to rest
where the question
does not arise.
When the mind descends
into the heart
the problem is its own
solution.
Commotions of thought
are just the dance
of silence,
expressing a most gentle
harmony
that was already here.
Falling down
is the ascension
because you discover
that you are the ground.
Just be a thousand
spent and weary petals
returning to your seed.
--Fred LaMotte

In the secluded mountains,
After a recent rainfall,
The air has the coolness
Of late autumn.
You can see the moon shining
Through the pine trees,
You can year the clear spring water
Flowing over the rocks.

-unattributed

Who would have expected that the
Self nature is fundamentally
Complete in itself?
Who would have expected that the
Self nature is fundamentally
Immutable?
Who would have expected that the
Self nature can create all things?

- Altar Sutra