Tuesday, April 5, 2016

That old zen saw

That old zen saw      

Ride your horse, goes that old zen saw,
along the edge of a sword, observing calmly –

to one side, the outer forms;
to the other, the inner realm.

Ride between, grasping neither, clean
as a whistle, not a hoof print left behind.

Bodhidharma counseled outside –
no engagement, no entanglements,

no arousals or intervention.
Inside – no indulgences, no rejection,

no denial or shying away.  Settle down
where there is no settling down –

in the saddle of the horse,
along the sword’s edge; ride on,

a part of neither, caught not in the dust-mire
of the outer nor the seductive fantasy of the inner.

O child of God, you are, apparently,
the whole of both and more. 
--------------------------------------------------------
(photo by Sponchia @ pixabay)

No comments:

Post a Comment