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Beyond the mountains, are more mountains - but the mountain nobody told that to - is Three Finger Jack - sitting there like Mt.Sumeru - just pointing - It means nothing, - mountains beyond mountains, unless the one you're climbing feels like its gotta be the last, and that uneasy feeling, creeping in, that it's only the first And anyway, what's he pointing to? The Tao that can be named? Maybe he can point, but he can't make a mark And if he shows you the way Its like it goes on forever Somewhere up on Obsidian Trail sunlight shining on a field of glass stones 7000 feet or higher blinding the hiker while threatening to cut open foot after foot Yet a faded memory of what was once clear Now inhabits a region filled with echoes and longings To remember one courses through five skandhas Cutting through obstructions Just to get to the point Worlds come and go As does family And other people And practices And their people Jobs come and go Where to live Who you know What’s happening It’s all uncertain Who one is Who anyone is All subject to change A friend one day, Turns their back the next So it goes Live one day at a time "Sufficient into the day is the evil thereof" Soon enough we'll all be gone Even this mountain. Following a trail south knowing this time is simply what it is walking up a mountain one foot at a time.

Self, No Self

Where then is Self? And if there is no self, who is asking? No way of knowing. If everything is practice, then all this work can get done easily. Benefit of staying focused. I sat today but I was in pain. I sat anyway. Bailed out 10 minutes before the timer. If I can't find peace and quiet I just count my breath if I cant count breath I count bananas. Nothing is ever finished Big poem or many small ones. Who knows?

Instant Zen, Invisible Yoga

You already see it. Unless you looked. The Eye Cannot See Itself. Let movement penetrate deep into your skeleton. Skin, flesh, and bones.

Bio

At about the age 15 or 16, maybe in 1967, a Unitarian Universalist minister (my faith community at the time) in Clifton, Kentucky, held a weekly yoga class. Although the aim was to attract the older members of his congregation for the purposes of improved health and rejuvenation, the class was mostly young people from the surrounding area. This was the beginning of my practice. I studied and practiced lots of things down through the years, but New Age teachings (channeling, crystal healings, astrology, etc.) never really interested me much. I spent 7 years deeply involved in TM, over 30 years a Christian and Bible student. My college years brought me into deeper study of Eastern teachings as well as Asian Art. Late in 1999, during a family crisis, I was introduced to mindfulness meditation practice through the medical community, and later joined Thich Nhat Nanh’s Community of Mindful Living sanghas in Kansas and Oregon. Having now moved to Virginia, my main practice is mindfulness meditation, a little (very little) yoga and qi gong. I’m not a teacher of Buddhism or of meditation, but I have kept a daily practice since 1999. It has a history all of it’s own too. Things that influence me are: Mindfulness Meditation, Body Scan, Zazen, Qi Gong, Raja Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Tantra, Zen cooking, The Way of Tea, gardening, keeping a Bird Sanctuary, and pottery-making.

Why the "Comments" Are Turned On

It never occurred to me that I should disable the comments. As I'm getting back into things here I started reading other "Buddhist Blogs", and in most cases the comment option is either moderated or absent entirely. Does this suggest that the Buddhist community is not able to converse in a civil manner? Or that everyone who blogs fashions themselves as a teacher and therefore sharing the soap-box is forbidden? I find it highly amusing. Here's an image from a community garden in Austin, Texas, which seems relevant to the point I'm trying to make. So, is this or isn't this a Zen garden?

The Blue Ridge Sutra

The Blue Ridge Sutra:
No Robes
No Bowls
No Vows
No Ordination
No Lineage
No Transmission
& Ain’t No Never Mind
Silence
Solitude
Simplify,
Simplify,
And again I say, Simplify
Barefoot
Naked
& Shaved
Fresh Air
& Sunshine
Off the Grid,
Off the Beaten Path,
Walking Backwards.

(completed Saturday, August 20, 2011)