No one makes it though life
without acquiring a scar or two.
And those scars don’t have to be on the outside.
They can be on the inside as well.
Those scars could come
from many people,
some malicious
and others merely foolish
yet both categories
could be quite dangerous.
Some delight in their cruelty
while others are horrified
by the harm they’ve inflicted
upon others
yet lack either the emotional
or intellectual ability
to learn from their mistakes.
And as such
they seem to be cursed
to forever wander hither and yon
harming a great many hearts
along the way.
Are we to be as innocent as doves
and forever hold the cold serpent
to our warm breast:
shocked when we are bitten?
Or must we trade in our love
and replace it with fear,
never trusting all things
but instead suspecting them?
“Come, let us reason.”
sayeth the lama.
Astronauts and aviators alike
carry with them
fat binders
full of every possible danger
and the contingency plans
with which to deal with them.
From the point of view of patriarchy:
rigid, fearful, and controlling;
this might seem
like an excellent way to approach
all our relationships:
platonic as well as intimate.
Lau Tzu, the Buddha,
Saraha, and Prahe Vajra alike
each traversed the path of matriarchy,
the way to the proverbial,
sky dancing dakini.
Their teachings,
both explicit and implicit,
taught us to remedy scatteredness
with the centeredness of mindfulness,
to heal contrivance
and the rigidity of over planning
with the spontaneity that flows
from the wisdom of letting go,
and to marry this centeredness with spontaneity
as the simplicity that has become characteristic
of the sage, mahasiddha, and yogi alike.
Or as Qui Gon Jinn
advised a young Anakin Skywalker,
“…don’t think, feel!”
How are we to train
to cultivate this centered spontaneity?
In the vulnerability of mindfulness
be open
to your present moment experience
be it external or internal,
pleasurable or painful,
glorious or grotesque.
Harness the raw energy of your experience:
both physical and emotional
through the active contemplations
of love and letting-go
known as Vajrayana’s diamond path,
Togal’s leap-over,
as well as Tonglen’s taking and giving
as well as through the passive
mindfulness and meditation
known as Mahamudra’s great seal of emptiness
and Trekchöd’s slice through.
How will you know
when you have mastered this path?
When you practice this love, letting-go,
mindfulness, and meditation:
spontaneously, habitually,
easily, and effectively.
Despite the ravings of fundamentalists
this journey need not require
the length of three great eons!
For the only people who insist upon such things
are those who know the methods they teach
are flaccid, impotent, worthless, and weak.
The Buddha taught the path could be mastered
in less than seven years, or seven quarters,
or seven months, or seven fortnights,
or seven weeks, or even seven days.
The only prerequisites are to get a good bead
on the Buddha’s teachings and techniques.
And participating in the following guided meditations
could be an excellent place to begin.
Let us conclude
with a simple
call to action
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