far company

.

At times now from some margin of the day 

I can hear birds of another country

not the whole song but a brief phrase of it

out of a music that I may have heard

once in a moment I appear to have 

forgotten for the most part that full day

no sight of which I can remember now

though it must have been where my eyes were then

that knew it as the present while I thought

of somewhere else without noticing that 

singing when it was there and still went on 

whether or not I noticed now it falls

silent when I listen and leaves the day

and flies before it to be heard again

somewhere ahead when I have forgotten

~ W.S. Merwin

from The Pupil

art by van gogh

always traveling

.

In one sense we are always traveling, 

and traveling as if we did not know where we were going. 

 In another sense we have already arrived. 

 We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, 

and that is why we are traveling and in darkness. 

 But we already possess Him by grace, 

and therefore, in that sense, we have arrived and 

are dwelling in the light. 

 But oh! How far have I to go to find You

 in Whom I have already arrived!

~ Thomas Merton

from The Seven Storey Mountain

art by van gogh

the door I made

.

Outside the door I made but don't close

I glimpse the movements of unfamiliar birds

a handful of jade is worth a whole mountain

but gold can't buy a lifetime of freedom

the sound of icy falls on a dawnlit snowy ridge

the sight of distant peaks through leafless autumn woods

mist lifts from ancient cedars and days last forever

right and wrong don't get past the clouds

~ Stonehouse

from The Zen Works of Stonehouse

translated by Red Pine

kneeling

.

Moments of great calm, 

Kneeling before an altar 

Of wood in a stone church 

In summer, waiting for the God 

To speak; the air a staircase 

For silence; the sun's light 

Ringing me, as though I acted 

A great role. And the audiences 

Still; all that close throng 

Of spirits waiting, as I, 

For the message. 

Prompt me, God; 

But not yet. When I speak, 

Though it be you who speaks 

Through me, something is lost. 

The meaning is in the waiting. 

~ R. S. Thomas

with thanks to whiskey river

the beauty

If any part of nature excites our pity, it is for ourselves we grieve, 
for there is eternal health and beauty.  
We get only transient and partial glimpses of the beauty of the world.  
Standing at the right angle, we are dazzled by the colors of the rainbow in colorless ice.  
From the right point of view, every storm and every drop in it is a rainbow.  
Beauty and music are not mere traits and exceptions.  
They are the rule and character.

~ Henry David Thoreau

from his journal, 1856

art by Roderick Maclver

paths which the mind travels

.

I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there.  

Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, 

and could not spare any more time for that one.  

It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, 

and make a beaten track for ourselves.  I had not lived there a week

 before my feet wore a path from my door to the pondside; 

and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct... 

 

The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; 

and so with the paths which the mind travels.  How worn and dusty, 

then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts 

of tradition and conformity! I did not wish to take a cabin passage,

 but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, 

for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. 

 I do not wish to go below now.

~ Henry David Thoreau

from the last chapter of Walden

art by van gogh

.

How invisibly

it changes color

in this world,

the flower

of the human heart.

~ Komachi

pebble

.

The pebble

is a perfect creature

equal to itself

mindful of its limits

filled exactly

with a pebbly meaning

with a scent which does not remind one of anything

does not frighten anything away does not arouse desire

its ardour and coldness

are just and full of dignity

I feel a heavy remorse

when I hold it in my hand 

and its noble body

is permeated by false warmth

-- Pebbles cannot be tamed

to the end they will look at us

with a calm and very clear eye

~ Zbigniew Herbert

translated by Czeslaw Milosz and Peter Dale Scott

I would like to describe

.

I would like to describe the simplest emotion

joy or sadness

but not as others do

reaching for shafts of rain or sun

I would like to describe a light

which is being born in me

but I know it does not resemble

any star

for it is not so bright

not so pure

and it is uncertain

I would like to describe courage

without dragging behind me a dusty lion

and also anxiety

without shaking a glass full of water

to put it another way 

I would give all metaphors

in return for one word

drawn out of my breast like a rib

for one word

contained within the boundaries

of my skin

but apparently this is not possible

and just to say - I love

I run around like mad 

picking up handfuls of birds

and my tenderness

which after all is not made of water

asks the water for a face

and anger

different from fire

borrows from it

a loquacious tongue

so is blurred

so is blurred

in me what white-haired gentlemen 

separated once and for all

and said

this is the subject

and this is the object

we fall asleep with one had under our head

and with the other in a mound of planets

our feet abandon us 

and taste the earth

with their tiny roots

which next morning

we tear out painfully

~ Zbigniew Herbert 

translated by Czeslaw Milosz and Peter Dale Scott

just being

.

Dharmakaya is not just expressed in words, in sounds.  It can express itself in just being.  Sometimes if we don't do anything, we help more than if we do a lot.  We call that non-action.  It is like the calm person on a small boat in a storm.  That person does not have to do much, just to be himself, and the situation can change.  That is also an aspect of Dharmakaya: not talking, not teaching, just being.

This is true not only of humans, but other species as well.   Look at the trees in our yard.  An oak tree is an oak tree.  That is all it has to do.   If an oak tree is less than an oak tree, then we are all in trouble.  Therefore, the oak tree is preaching the Dharma.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

from Being Peace

the knower

.

By following any religion, 

cult or creed, 

one becomes inevitably conditioned, 

because one is obliged to conform and accept its disciplines, 

both physical and mental. 

One may get a little peace for some time, 

but such a peace will not last long. 

In your true nature, 

you are the knower of concepts and therefore 

prior to them.

~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

two washings

One morning in a strange bathroom

a woman tries again and again to wash the sleep 

from her eyelids' corners,

until she understands.  Ah, she thinks, it begins.

Then goes to put on the soup,

first rerinsing the beans, then lifting the cast-iron pot

back onto the stove with two steadying hands.

~ Jane Hirshfield

from After

I looked for my self

.

I looked for my self, but my self was gone.

The boundaries of my being

had disappeared in the sea.

Waves broke. Awareness rose again.

And a voice returned me to myself.

It always happens like this.

Sea turns on itself and foams,

and with every foaming bit

another body, another being takes form.

And when the sea sends word,

each foaming body

melts back to ocean-breath.

~ Rumi

translation by Coleman Barks

sketch by e.e. cummings

audible to all men, at all times, in all places

Silence is the communing of a conscious soul with itself.

If the soul attends for a moment to its own infinity, then and there is silence.

She is audible to all men, at all times, in all places, 

and if we will we may always hearken to her admonitions.

~ Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

from Thoreau and the Art of Life

art by Roderick Maclver

busy days

.

These were full and busy days...

This busy life is quite different from the shiftless leisure that shantyboaters are supposed to enjoy.  We became industrious and respected members of the community.  I even cut corn in the fall to get our winter's supply.  On Sundays we prepared for visitors.  I kept myself presentable, and did not become involved in any work which could not be dropped instantly.

This placed us in a new position with regard to the river.  Watching it from the shore, almost as a landsman, we might have felt a longing to drift with it again and, ever passing new shores,  make only brief stops along the way.  Yet we did not regret our present shore-bound life, rather we made the most of it; for the autumn and our departure would come soon enough.

~ Harlan Hubbard

from Shantyboat Journal

edited by Don Wallis

art by van gogh