Poetry

Not exactly in the style of Wang Wei, but I wanted to share this one. I have long held the image of three stones stacked up in my sitting practice, it helps me to remain still, so when I was at sesshin the first time at Garrison Institute in New York, there were several of these images on the hiking trail on the bluff overlooking the Hudson River. What happened next, well...




Trail of the Buddha

Beside the walking path
Beyond the monastery,
Small river stones
Rounded smooth through the ages. Along the edge
Stacked in threes--
People here before made images of Buddha
As they walked the trail.


In stopping to admire, adding my own images,
My intent is thus to
Bring the stillness
Of the rocks to my zazen.
How might I compare, I ask,
With these stones whose very essence is
Stillness?

Yet as I am sitting, this ego tricks me, whispering
The “I” that I am,
Is quieter,
More still
Than all the others.
The error becomes so clear,
And the folly of it rends me to small river stones.

© C. Greer

Thank you and poems

It was wonderful to have so many sangha members at our anniversary gathering. Thank you for coming out to the farm. Nyoi suggested we have more gatherings like this. What do you think?
I am posting some of my poems from the week in response to Rinsen's promptings. I'd love to hear how you receive them. Creative audience helps me immeasurably.

__________________________

as I lie in bed
a cool summer breeze
rustles the leaves

through the window
a gentle current
laps over me

one taste

I do not mind
growing old
_________________________


For Phil and Simon

a summer breeze
lifts the tips
of horse's tail

do you think
it could
be said
better?

the rain pounds
on the roof

impossible
to say it
wrong

why linger
in echo's

before you know it
the sun is out
the kids
are on
their bikes

after you know it
the sun is out
the kids
are on
their bikes

______________________


the blue sky waits
the blue water waits
for
the shivering boy
on the edge
of the diving board

small girls
drag their towels
along the wet edge
of the pool

crying out
jump jump jump

___________________


the thick fingers
of the tree trunk
disappear
into the ground

Gutei had one

Do'on has ten

she never lifts a finger

lazy lazy lazy

______________________


- Do'on Weik

Poetry

Flocks of concepts,
like birds of the sea.
As truth flows,
like wind under wings.

-Vic

Allan Watts film from 1971

Hui-Neng: The Platform Sutra (part 2 of 3)

Jay Rinsen Chikyo Weik leads a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on March 16, 2008. "Good friends, how then are meditation and wisdom alike? They are like the lamp and the light it gives forth. If there is a lamp, there is light; if there is no lamp, there is no light. The lamp is the substance of light; the light is the function of the lamp. Thus, although they have two names, in substance they are not two. Meditation and wisdom are also like this." — Hui-Neng

Listen in Here.

The Moral Teachings of Zen, part 2

Sorry for the poor quality of the image and sound!

Hui-Neng: The Platform Sutra (part 1 of 3)

Jay Chikyo Rinsen Weik leads a retreat workshop at the Toledo Zen Center on March 16, 2008. "Oftentimes in spiritual teaching, there is a great attempt to deny any kind of shadow, or any kind of difficulty, and it's important to acknowledge it.... It makes the teachings more alive and full and complete and real, but also real honest and very direct. The historical context has a direct influence on what these teachings are, and that's important to know and to acknowledge and to understand."

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