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