If you are not already,
Please get into the meditation position.
Find your grounding.
Feel the earth support you.
Come into the body.
Notice the breath.
Find your balance.
And listen to these words as you would a bird song.
You who started the turning of the wheel of the dharma,
Resting in beyond emptiness and bliss,
Gone beyond,
Going beyond,
Radiant with the light of past,
Present and future,
I pay great respect and homage to you,
Buddha Shakyamuni.
Listen.
Listen here,
You who practice the dharma and strive for total cessation and enlightenment.
You tired daydreamer,
You clinger and craver.
Do you remember how delusions blinded you in the past?
Watch out,
Watch out for delusions in the present.
And don't lead a hypocritical life.
Stop with all of your unnecessary ponderings to this or that.
Stop with fruitless speculation.
You've made hundreds of plans,
Countless attempts at this or that which never actually happened and only led to your own disappointment.
Your unfinished acts and ideas hold you tethered to this world of convention.
Work with single-minded intention and stop confusing yourself.
You may have studied hundreds of teachings,
Read countless books,
Pondered many philosophies,
But have you truly grasped any of them?
What is the point of further study?
Your cup runs over and over.
Study without remembering.
Study without practice.
What's the point of the wispy contemplation?
Practice your meditation.
Notice and implement what you learn there and it will cure any conflicting idea.
You may have recited numberless mantras.
You still have yet to hear the message they contain.
You may have heard the message they contain,
But you still haven't loosened the bindings of duality.
You may have even subdued duality,
But yet the ego still sits grinning behind all of this.
Watch out.
Watch out.
It is like a perfect doppelganger in the midst of a great crowd.
Forget practice.
Forget meditation.
Forget this or that.
Just sit.
Just practice.
Dwell high and clear,
But don't drift away in the mind.
Be grounded and steady,
But don't lack any clarity.
Break into insights with calmness and pleasantness.
Forget concentration,
But focus.
Forget the root of the tethered mind.
Lectures sound interesting,
But what good are they without practice?
The logical mind can seem sharp,
But the roots of illusion and confusion run deep.
Dharma talks may help distract the mind,
But offer no assistance dwelling in the here and now.
You may bang a fancy drum.
You may ring an expensive bowl.
You may chime precious bells or sit on a comfy cushion,
But without devotion,
It is just playing around.
You may offer your body with all of its aches,
Pains,
And enjoyments,
But in fact you are still clinging with great attachment to it.
You dwell in great silence,
Yet the mind remains dull,
Tired,
And heavy.
Forget about the tricks of mind and body,
Attractive though they are,
And practice with obsession and devotion,
If you wish to go from here to there.
Between the two,
All you will find is your own self-created illusions.
One day there is a glimmer of understanding,
But the next day you are back in a whirlpool of confusion.
We seem to learn one thing out of a hundred,
Yet that even will slip between the cracks.
Like catching water with a net,
Approach it honestly without conceptualization,
And rest in that.
One day we are overfilled with love,
The next we are indifferent.
One day we are humble,
And the next we are proud.
Find the equal point between all of this,
The silver curve of balance and equanimity,
And rest in that place.
Never-ending talking and chatter will stir up likes and dislikes.
Though it may be amusing and enjoyable,
It will confuse the mind and lose you in the midst of ignorance.
One day you are relaxed,
And the next you are tense.
One day you flow,
The next you are rigid.
Rest in that great in-between.
Rest there,
And just sit.
You will never be happy if you let your emotions control you,
Both yours and others.
Sometimes moods are good,
Sometimes they are bad.
Circumstances are nothing but convention and chance.
The mind and heart are terrible masters,
But they are fantastic servants.
Do what you have to do,
And keep yourself to yourself.
Be like water,
Seek the lowest point,
Humble yourself down.
There can be whole realms and worlds above you,
But don't see them as greater or lesser.
So pride will be extinguished.
Give up everything,
That is the point.
Overcome fear,
Know your shadow,
See the darkness.
Be true,
And practice without practice.
Don't get angry with yourself.
Keep going,
Give yourself to everything and nothing.
Touch into the true nature of impermanence,
And see with the eye of true wisdom.
I promise you,
All will be well in the end.
This is my message to you,
My dear friend of the Dharma.
There will be a bell in about ten minutes.
That will be the end of the silent meditation period.
Let us begin.
Thank you.
You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Thank you for sitting with me today.
I always appreciate it.
Have a wonderful day,
And Namaste.
