Thursday 27 February 2014

Listen to the voice of the unborn

How can I speak of you and I
in a place of non-duality?
Listen to the heart singing,
it has no sense of division.
Listen to the voice of the unborn,
a koan calling out reality from
the imaginary world of forms.

Listen to what the tree says,
how the flowers speak,
what the clouds whisper to each other.
Listen to the voice of the unborn and
undying, pulsing with each heartbeat,
a koan calling out reality from
the imaginary world of forms.

A single teardrop courses down my cheek
and I will not wipe it away
though my hand itches to do so.
This is the voice of the unborn,
this is how the heart speaks.
In this realm the dance of you and I
melts into one, with no separation between.

© 27 Feb 2014

Sunday 9 February 2014

If I miss meditation today will it matter?

If I miss meditation today will it matter?
The earth will not fall off its axis,
the stars will not stop sparkling nor
the sun stop shining.
Yet I will feel depleted and undernourished
as if the meal I was offered
was barely satisfactory.

The rain will still rain,
the wind will still blow,
the sun and the moon will still rise,
the course of the seasons will not
alter for one millisecond,
yet I will feel the irregularity of my heartbeat
as the heart’s longing for itself
has not been satisfied.

We will still breathe and move
about our usual daily business
and converse and emote and interact
yet these interplays may lack some depth
because I have not plummeted
the depth of my inner being.

If I miss meditation today will it matter?
Spring will still spring
and we will still feel
the enlivening of the senses with the
lengthening of days and
the bursting of new life,
yet my joy will be muted,
as if spring is viewed through a dull curtain
rather than felt and known
in my own racing heartbeat.

The world will not fall into chaos
or destruction or ruination
and war will not befall every nation
yet the energy of peace that can be transmitted
through my interactions
will be lacking,
and the ripples of peace and heartfulness
that undulate out from a meditating heart
will not emerge,
as if a stone has not been dropped into water
but has been withheld.

And I will feel it.
I may miss the first snowdrop saying ‘hello’
and not see the rainbow, but only the darkening rainclouds.
I may mistake you for a stranger
and forget you are my better self,
my teacher, my beloved
in whose happiness my happiness lies.

And I will know,
and I will feel it
because I have not touched reality,
I have not known pure existence without any conditions
and I have not let thinking drop away
to reveal being.
This kindness to myself
may go unnoticed by the world,
but I will know
and I will feel it.
© 9 Feb 2014

Saturday 8 February 2014

Follow the sound of the bell

Follow the sound of the bell
knowing that as the physical sound dies
it continues to resonate in the heart,
a cavern of silence in which
the bell is still sounding
as a song, calling us home.

Follow the sound of the bell
along which the heart rides
until its ripples and
the heart’s beat
are one.

Follow the sound of the bell
as a call to
non-action,
to the peace we step into and
immediately recognise as the
deepest longing of our heart.

Follow the sound of the bell
to that space where it sounds as
blood pumping through my veins
or my own heartbeat.

Follow the sound of the bell
until it sounds no more
and is ever sounding
as the song reminding us
we are home.

© 2 Feb 2014


Monday 3 February 2014

Stillness Buddy: friend or foe?

Stillness Buddy: friend or foe?
Popping up in the midst of writing an email,
interrupting my train of thought.
Not now, later!

But this is my job,
to burst through the mindless flow
and the list of 'important things',
the washing-machine mind that never
reaches the end of its cycle.

This is my job,
to remind you of reality beyond
email-land and impinging,
beguilingly seductive internet pages.

This is my job,
to wake up the dormant senses,
to see the leaves tapping on your window,
hear the crackling fire in its grate,
smell the near-approaching spring,
touch the breath as it rises and falls,
taste the cup of tea by your side.

Smile to life in all its manifestations,
smile to reality hear and now,
smile to Stillness Buddy
popping up at inconvenient moments.
Smile to Stillness Buddy
friend, definitely friend.

© 3 Feb 2014

https://stillnessbuddy.com/