"It's Not Working"

People who start out in meditation are seeking results.
That’s logical. We usually don’t engage in any activity
without expecting some experience or outcome. When
we first study the Buddhist teachings, words such as
“enlightenment”, “peace” and so forth are used to
show that there is some direction to the path of meditation.
Some people hold one or more of these words in mind,
as reassurance that the activity of meditation has a worthwhile
goal...however, there doesn’t seem to be much of a
timetable for reaching any goals through meditation

There is no timetable. As one gains experience in
meditation, one begins to realize, perhaps, that
“just sitting” in itself is worthwhile. Let’s say someone
has been meditating regularly, an hour a day, for a year.
For most people, no one has achieved enlightenment…or
had any great meditation experiences to speak of. One’s
life is pretty much as chaotic as a year ago. Mind still yaps
away as always…perhaps one has become increasingly
aware of the mental chatter… irritatingly so even. Far from
experiencing the peace one had hoped for, all that meditation
seems to have done is heighten mental discursiveness…
though at times one recognizes that the chatter had always
been there. One continues to practice because just sitting
is grounding, feels healthy and wholesome…not for any
superior reason. At that point, it is possible
to see that the path is the goal. It is also possible to feel
“It’s not working”, i.e. , the meditation is not living up to
one’s expectations. Or, one could realize that just sitting,
breathing, coming back to one’s breath when distracted
is a simple, organic, uncontrived practice… a simple
cultivation of awareness. The path is continuous from
the first time we sit down to the attainment of enlightenment.
What changes is what we see when we’re sitting,
how we see. That takes place over time, as has been said,
like a pool of muddy water becomes clear over time
if left undisturbed. How can that have a timetable?

Born (This Way) Addicted

Everyone addicted to life;
else not have been born…
Void a bit Too Much
nothing, so, let’s dance.

Darwin Meets Godzilla

“It is not the flag that is moving…
it is the mind that moves.” Zen Parable

It is not the species that evolves…
it is the mind that evolves…
Ontogeny recapitulates Phylogeny,
organic playback in the womb…
in media res...we start in the middle
of forever...
all life is mind manifesting
…as in a dream…
everything seems as it is…as if it is…
…someone dies, we say: “ I just saw them
yesterday.” …as if they couldn’t not be there…
shock of misplaced concreteness…
“I dropped my nail file!” …trapped in The
fun house mirror…taking reflection to be real...
…species adapt…mind evolves…enlightenment
is not about survival....meditation is
negative duckling imprint.

Prayer To Things As They Are: The Almighty Moment

We bow to You, Almighty Moment, and to your powerful
Fist Of Perfect Indifference; the power of Change which finds
no man immortal or immune….

There is no guarantee to life, because you are No Guarantor…
We ask for nothing more than to acknowledge your Holy Chaos,
The Grail of Clear Seeing, the Eden of Simplicity…
P.T. Morpheus, Big Chagrin of Reality!
Our worship of You is to go on as if nothing had happened!

American Dream

Perfect Daddy, suit and tie, wide brimmed fedora,
Mommy blue dress and bangs, Billy and Susie and
the dog, all smiling gleamingly, brightly, driving
into the future….

…was the hook, line and sinker we boomers swallowed
in Eisenhower Golden Material Dawn of The Greatest
Country/Show On Earth as we were told…

…not no more…brief feast on carrion whale of a dream,
beached on the shore of greed …endangered? Ha!

Dinah-Shore-See-The-USA this way nevermore….
How-Sweet-It-Isn’t-Gleason gurgles in his grave…

Even-when-it-could-have-been-Sixties, Psycho-spiritual
Revolution, LSD and meditation to overthrow Rational Mind
subverted and stunted by Power and Control….

So save that vision ‘cause a vision like that you don’t see all at once…
…and it’s all on record: Frank Zappa, R.A.W., Bill Mahr, Joni
Michell and the rest of them…
… grass grows through cracks in the concrete now and forever…
…nature finds a way, the truth will be told….time is irrelevant...
...the Buddha arose.