THE MAGIC OF LIFE

In the fertile land of emptiness

A mystical mirage suddenly appears

Through the forest of the mind

The stream of consciousness flows!

Like a midsummer night’s dream,

Like an illusion, like a dew drop

The magic of life!

How Beautiful Indeed! 

WALK THIS WAY

Walking the streets of this dingy town


I'm just a man of the way


I have nothing further to seek


I have nothing left to lose


The sky is my roof


And the grass is my bed


The clouds are my companions!


They too  just  come and go


My sandals are worn out !


My head is bald; my beard is gray!


Unfettered but concerned!


Engaged but unattached !


I m just glad i walked this way !

BORN AGAIN- HEAVEN

Across the vast  expanses of the sky

The light of wisdom dawns

All distinction vanish

No path  ! No destination

No  ten directions !

Deep within!

In the deepest hell

Attachment whithers

Devoid of anger and hatred

Heaven is born again! 

LOTUS OF WISDOM

Shining brightly

The glowing light of wisdom!

compassion buds

The lotus blossums

Joy overflows

Deep within the ocean of suffering

The ego drowns ! 

WORDLESS RIVER

No river, no raft!

No finger ; no moon!

No seeker; no sought!

No buddha! No buddha nature !

In the path of enlightenment

No word remains ! 

THE MIGHTY VICE

Enthroned between two worlds

The world of past and the world future

One of  which no longer exists!

And the other, which  is yet to come

Caught in the cycle of endless suffering!  

Affirming and denying!

Seeking and forsaking!

Encased by illusion!

 Enslaved by mortal fear!  

Grasping for identity;  clinging for security!

Easy to be hurt;  and eager to be gratified!

The ever elusive! The ever deceptive!  

The one and only! The Only vice !

Oh mighty Ego!

When will “I”  let you go ?

CRAVING CORPSE

Waiting to become ashes

My burning corpse craves!

Caught within the ravaging flames of desire

 Lust, anger and hate!

Oh! Friendly undertaker

 Incinerate my soul too! 

SLOW REALIZATION

Slowly and tardily; I’m learning

Learning to finally let go!

Bound to the wheel of transient phenomena

Spinning unconsciously in the web of life

Is it not natural to be carried away?

In the warm comfort of a good life

The pleasant pride of possession  

The anger of unmet expectation

And the pain of sudden dissipation

Can anyone be blamed for this piquant attachment?

But slowly; the murky water clears

And slowly, the transcendent truth appears

All things are dependent; and all things change

Clinging to a selected few; is the only root of pain

Difficult it may be, to accept and fathom; but yet wholly true

There is no real I, sitting behind my viewing eyes

There is no lingering me; nor a persistent mine

Oh! striving mind! Once you see this as the transcendent truth

The conceptual wall of self, crumbles; the mirage of self- made pain ends

And the fountain of love and compassion, overflows and transcends

Slowly and tardily; I now understand this truth

Slowly and tardily I fill my pot with this eternal love

Slowly I aim for the boundless compassion

Slowly may I even yearn for this ultimate bliss!   

COLOSSAL PRIDE

Head held high and looking down upon the world!

Oh proud friend! Looking down on the rest!

What is it, that gives your colossal Pride?

In this ever-changing world of flux and entropy

How long can you hide in comfort?  

Today!  The freshness of your beauty may charm many an eye

And prettiness and beauty may churn your pride

But in time when wrinkles wring your face

And no pretty veil can hide your forsaken fate

Will your pride be more than skin deep ?

Today you are young and healthy

Surrounded by friends and family

Respected by the  respectable

In you, happiness and completeness transiently reside !

But beware friend! You are not their permanent abode!  

When the arrow of disease strikes you

And the scorching old age, shrivels you up

When you are left helpless by the road;and all family has left you

No more possessions left with you , to be respected

What else will you be proud about?

Knowledge and experience!

And if luck serves you, even wisdom!

All of these seem to adorn you today!

But when the brain erodes with time, and the mind fades away

As you lie lonely and a forgotten, in a  bed of an uncanny institution

Will you be able to walk unassisted?

Unable to remember your very own name

Unable to say night from day

Unaware of your own soiling

Lying at the mercy of someone to clean you ! 

Will you still remember your wiser days with pride?  

Oh proud friend! In this ever-changing world of flux and entropy

What you have today; will vanish tomorrow!

Pride of possession and position ;  knowledge and beauty

Will they sustain you when are left dying!

Tell me dear friend!

Will they preserve your rotting flesh !

EMPTY PATH

Walking the path of mindfulness

Many a time I wander

From here and now, to yonder

Loosing track and finding new ones

 Watching thoughts that ponder

 Cross roads and signposts

 Of feelings and emotions

To the land of greed-less, hate-less and self-less awareness

 Oh wandering mind of mine

To this bliss of emptiness and awareness; Let my paths lead!

NOTHING REMAINS THE SAME

When a note of music changes; can the song remain the same?

When the words of a poem changes – can the meaning remain the same ?

When a story itself changes; can the end be the same?

Oh ever-changing mind of mine

As all composite things change- can the soul ever remain the same ? 

CUD OF THOUGHTS

Midst the loneliness of the forest, a fatal fire rages

As the mountains and valleys are engulfed in  smoke

A grazing herd of thoughts

Caught between a flowing river and the ravishing flames

Sit still as they chew their cud !

PASSING CLOUDS

Sitting by the window, on a cold winter night  

As the open curtains greet the serene moonlight

Passing clouds of thought come and go

Some are good and friendly

Some are riotous till they go

Some tent in my garden

And some just refuse to go

Some make me smile when they come in

But rip my home when they go

Some keep evading as I chase them

And some just make a mess and go  

Some brighten the home with their presence

But they too drizzle and go

For all these thoughts, just come visiting

And, sooner or later, they all must go

For when the new sun rises in the morning, the morning mist must go!

LEAF IN THE MONSOON

The lashing rain is pouring

Transient streams are flowing

Drawn by the wavy currents

A leaf lost in the monsoons

Floating along in peace

Nothing to watch for; nothing to wish for

No preferred time; no desired destination

Floating in ecstasy; taking the course of destiny

With every sudden change of course

How limitless is the bliss!

THE MAST OF PRIDE

The mast of pride; now lies scattered on the ocean floor

His bloating corpse; now washed ashore

The headless captain; his brains soaked in gin

Sailing his ship of ego; riding the winds of sin

Seeking the land of glory; in his voyage of self conceit

 It  all seems hunky dory

But until the rock of truth strikes in

Now, as the  water fills his empty deck

And truth makes his ego crack

His self made crown, comes tumbling down

As he struggles to breathe, while his soul does drown

Now lost in the depths of emptiness

With no life left, even to feel his own loneliness

Rotting by the eddies in the ocean floor

His ego and soul lost to nothingness

What more use, can his life be  

Than to feed the hunger of some poor osedax worm!

SEE YOU

I can see the glow of the heavenly light even in the darkness of the worldly night

I can see the everlasting sunshine, even in the hidden dark depths of my soul

I can see the causal webs connecting all things existent

I can see the rise and demise of all composite things 

I can even see the shadow of my own conscious mind

Oh master of mystery! Can I ever see you? 

THE HEART OF EMPTINESS

The heart of all is emptiness

The soul of all is emptiness

Essence of all things is emptiness

Emptiness! Emptiness!

Everything is emptiness!

The body you and I reside, is emptiness

The mind you fathom with, is emptiness

Sensation and feeling; thought and intent

Urge and action; perception and consciousness

All of these are nothing but emptiness!

All phenomena are emptiness

All objects are but emptiness

Dependent rising is emptiness

Causality is emptiness 

So in emptiness

Nothing is born and nothing dies

Nothing is pure, nothing is defiled

Nothing rises and nothing falls

Nothing exists without the all

So also in emptiness

There are no eyes and there are no ears  

No act of seeing; no act of hearing

No thought; no feeling

No desire; no craving

No free will; No consciousness

No perception; no knowledge

No ignorance; no suffering

No birth and no death

Thus is the truth of emptiness! The wisdom of emptiness!

The heart of all things! Emptiness!

Emptiness!! Emptiness!

RISE AND FALL

In the rise and fall of every breath

Life and death join hands to play

In the rise and fall of every breath

The clock of time just ticks away

In the rise and fall of every breath

Experience fades away

In this rise and fall of every day

Which one is the last one?

Which one will take my breath away! 

MARINATED FOR THE RAVEN

Oh starving raven waiting for this very day

As you esuriently peck on the reddened flesh off my rotting carcass

How do you put up with its rancid taste?

Is my flesh not bitter, with hatred for the people I didn’t care about?

Is it not sour with desire, for things I still craved?

Is it not hot with anger for the people who came in my way?

Is it still slimy with my covert selfishness hidden by my overt smile?

Is it not salty with my pointless pride?

Oh raving raven is there still enough love to make it sweet

As all my pomp and glory is now heaped up as meat

Oh feathered brother!  How could you relish what you eat!

WASHED AWAY

In the vicious whirlpool of thought

My drowning soul gets dragged away

In the overpowering stream of ideas

 My mind sinks to its demise

In this world of form and appearances

My deluded heart dies to preference

When the tide rises and the flood of death finally sweeps me over

What of me is still left to be washed away?