I don’t write in a journal everyday, but I have accumulated many entries over the past 50+ years beginning in 1966. Some items evolved into longer works. Among the leftovers little pieces survived. I thought a collection of these with a piece culled from the same date in a past year would make an interesting yearbook. The consistencies and inconsistencies of mind, skipping back and forth across time, provide varied perspectives. It is difficult to remember the context of the past we’ve lived; we also make suppositions about times that predate ourselves.

The few alterations from original drafts were to improve clarity. The worst of my work is not included. There remains enough mediocrity and immaturity to make me feel humble and you feel smart. There are also moments of accidental insight and incidental humor.

Author Stephen Crane referred to his little pieces as pills…apparently they were small and somewhat hard to swallow, but good for you.


Comments Welcome!

Monday, October 15, 2018

Buddha Masque #2


from this week in October, 1991  (I was 46)

            Buddha Masque #2
Round water in a round receptacle, squared water in a cube
To discriminate existence and non-existence is to suffer entanglement
Buddha nature is not the soul nor the soul Buddha nature
Though body and mind will wear away Buddhahood will not
Gratified desire still leaves unrest and irritation un-allayed
Yet austerity and cruelty only cause suffering
Kindness and wisdom follow Bodhisattva
who does not give way to greed, anger and foolishness
The old bent with age are messengers of the self to come
Respect their goodness and sympathize in their difficulties
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