The Silent Mind Listens to Grass Speak

Sakyamuni Buddha, once enlightened, with silent mind

hears revelations from the countless things,

as if clamoring to report through themselves

that there is nothing at all worth grasping

and clinging to as “I,” “myself,” or “mine.”

Never dream of owning any of them — what foolishness!

Taking these selfless things to be “I” or “me”

brings only sadness, anger, and sorrow.

Even the rocks, sand, soil, trees, and grass

sound this song through every nook and cranny;

yet, the busy-minded don’t understand or suspect

that everything sings out Dharma’s lesson.

With silent mind one hears even the leaves of grass

counseling each other with this beautiful fact:

All beings may dance at ease in the breeze with minds left silent by laying to rest all things.

~ Thich nu Tinh Quang

COMPLETING THE CYCLE

Meditator.

Thought.

Awareness.

Concentration.

Reality as it is.

Fulfilled.

~ Thich nu Tinh Quang

DIVINE TRUTH

Seeking to fill the void
That wasn't there ...

seeking
not finding ...

Not recognizing that what I sought
Was there all along.

~ Thich nu Tinh Quang

ETERNAL SPRING

Impermanence ...

A gleeful game

of Hide and Seek.

~ Thich nu Tinh Quang

BECOMING

I planted a Linden sapling

and cared for it,

another living being.

Drinking in the sun and rain,

it responded

by expanding with vigour.

She offered the gift of flowers,

the fragrance heady.

Gently,

this great Bodhisattva provided shade

for the Buddha,

the pond and it's

community of goldfish,

the Cardinal family,

and me,

providing a cool,

welcoming shelter for all,

regardless of whom or what.

As I sit by the pond,

enjoying yet another generation of goldfish,

drinking linden flower tea,

I ponder the life we've shared.

~ Thich nu Tinh Quang

CONDITIONED ARISING

Imagine how long you have been
Becoming,
Riding the ever-revolving
Cycle of existence
To be revealed as a flower,
Rock,
Cloud,
Or a wolf,
The Dharmakaya reflected in her eyes.


Each particle of wolf, cloud, rock, flower,
You
Was spewn out of our
Ancient, spinning sun
As conditions arose and ripened
With the momentum
Of the great,
Ponderous
Wheel.


Moving,
Becoming,
Being born and dying,
Flower and you,
Empty phenomena rolling on
Inseparable from the whole,
Moving and becoming
Again.

Thich nu Tinh Quang

TAT TVAM ASI

तात त्वं असी

Throughout the ether I have been.
Before time;
Since the Beginning;
Before the Beginning.
I am the Void.

I am sunbeams
Glancing off the rain drops,
And melodiously intertwined notes in music.
Twin stars;
A dividing cell;
Molecules dancing in gaseous material,
The lonely call of the loon in A Thunder storm.

Clay,
the potter,
the pot,
the emptiness
And the fullness of the pot,
I am.

Provider of food
And the food,
I am the cook and the
Act of eating.

You will find me as the largest Galaxy of space,
Or as the smallest molecule of Space between the Galaxies.

I am the reflection in your Mirror.
See me.

See yourself.

Thich nu Tinh Quang