Chan & Sun Chai

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The question about the Heart arises because you are interested in

seeking the Source of consciousness. To all deep-thinking minds, the

enquiry about the 'I' and its nature has an irresistible fascination.

Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart or the Seat of

Consciousness, it is all the same. The point to be grasped is this,

that HEART means the very Core of one's being, the Centre, without

which there is nothing whatever.

~Sri Ramana Maharshi

Only the idea of self remainsFloating on a sea of cells;Only

heartbeats short of eternityIn breath after breath we dwell.

~ Mike Garofalo

 

 

 

 

I first met Chang San-Feng above the forest, near the clear

spring,when gathering clouds darkened the day,and Mt. Shasta was

silent.

His long beard was black as emptiness,ear lobes to his

shoulders,holding obsidian in his hand,pointing to the sun, eyes

staring into infinity,his long body clothed in silence.

We exchanged "hellos"smiled and bowed,a barbarian and an Immortal,both

panting from the climb,laughing,ten-thousand echoesbetween our rocky

minds.

After billions upon billions of heartbeats past(for he must have been

888 years old),I was so boldas to ask the ancient one for the sacred

mantra of yore.He lifted his whisk,and brushed my face;I could not

speak,my lips were stone,ideas stopped –I was alone.

~ Mike Garofalo

 

 

 

Time is one apricot blossom.Space, a bee.The Universe, honey.And, the Goddess of Spring?

~ Michael Garofalo

 

 

 

 

Whenever learners or those beyond learning awaken the mind, for the

first time they plant one buddha-nature. Working with the four

elements and five clusters, if they practice sincerely they attain

enlightenment. Workingwith plants, trees, fences and walls, if they

practice sincerely they will attainenlightenment. This is because

the four elements and five clusters and plants, trees, fences and

walls are fellow students; because they are of thesame essence,

because they are the same mind and the same life, becausethey are the

same body and the same mechanism.

- Dogen Zenji, Japanese Zen Buddhist Grand MasterAwakening the

Unsurpassed Mind, #31Translated by Thomas Cleary, Rational Zen: The

Mind of Dogen Zenji

 

 

 

 

Heart-struck, from this cliff

moonlight falls withno place to land.All eyes raised to the sky tonight will be

granted the vision of their own future.When the moon was graced by

the sun with such sight, it tumbled

from its perch on Cold Mountain - nothing bothering below to

break its fall.I sit here sighing where the same moon

grazed, gazing sentimentally at the littlemementos kept to remind itself of all the

places it had once visited -–pieces of light from hearts like mine,

translated into small breathlesspoems, fondly foldedon the altar of

its suicide,awaiting a fire that now will nevercome.

~ Mazie & b

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lazily scribbling poems on sun-dried

boulders, at peace with whatever comes,goes, remains unchanged ---

what has always been serenely indifferent

to any style of calligraphic graffiti

has no complaint with the phrasing.

Echoes on perception –

from the mouths of babes to

the ear of the Infinite.

Out West

barbarians say:

"Tat Sat Om!"

It has a certain ring.

~ Mazie & b

 

 

 

 

Live long enough and the losses pile up,Till you're tossed away like

an old cracked cup,All stained and worn, dulled by time,Useless,

leaking, not worth a dime.Egoless, your flesh falls away, a

skeletonLost in Nirvana; lights out, all done.

Then, the Skeleton Woman drinks your dry tears,Drums your still heart,

and sings away fears,Slips under the quilts and gives Love a Whirl

-Spinning, twirling, your reborn as a Girl.

Forget yourself, crack the cup on the floor,Speak in a new voice, the past is no more.

~ Michael Garofalo

 

 

 

 

 

When one Buddha who perfected the Waybeholds the Dharma world,all

those in the plant-and-tree realms,without exception,attain

Buddhahood.

- Keami, Nue (a No libretto), circa 1440

 

 

 

 

This curiosity,although distracted by belief,has never been about

belief butliving.This is why I waveGood-bye to believing -simple

curiosity aboutwhat remains whenpast beliefs give way towhat's beyond

them.

It's the only thing I am at allcurious about --perhaps in the same

waythe butterfly, emerging from its cocoon, iscurious in its

newWinged-ness --the lure of the sudden swellingbreeze, the pulsing

urge oflife for lifethat will not,cannot be denied.

Being lifts off from a branch,discards the dry cocoon ofpast, and in a

flight of breathless sighs,heartbreaks throughthe startled skies!

 

~ Mazie & b

 

 

 

 

 

Listening long to her lively song,I imagined the mockingbird's

wings.Sniffing the rich steam of cow shit,I thought of deep green

grass in the spring.Feeling the warm breeze on my brow,the

weatherman's map came to mind.Reading Wallace Stevens at

noontime,supreme fictions danced on the lines.Seeing my old face in

the mirror,faint memories of youth did not become clearer.

Once, the picture was a touchstone of truth;now admidst the multitude

of mindsgoing about our daily lives,Truth, Reality, Being ... are

functions of usefulness,expressions of our communities:agreements,

handshakes, togetherness. Or, so we imagine. Imagination plays by a

different set of rules:free, creative, solitary, unschooled.

Illusions, delusions, foolishness:Those flowers falling from the

sky.Only the Mind's EyesWishing for otherwise;As always, embracing

fertile lies.Spinning fictions over facts;Mythmaking, playful, eager

to act,Seeing what we want to see,Seeking, yeasaying, seeding, giving

it a try.Having faith in Flowers in the Sky.

~ Mike Garofalo

 

 

LoveAlways,

 

Mazie

 

 

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