What are you doing?
Does suicide wake you every morning and tuck you in every night? Are you tangled up so bad that you’ve been thinking about cutting yourself free?
Oh aggrieved! I know you’ve hurt. Some lovely things have gotten lost. - and it’s truly hard to see them go. It sets your jaw to see them go!
Oh aggrieved! I know you’ve hurt. Some ugly things have come along. - and it’s truly hard to endure them. It sets your jaw to endure them!
Oh aggrieved! I know you’ve hurt. We all wished for much better - and it’s truly hard to get what we get. It sets your jaw on what we get!
Your heart and mind would carry that torch until it burns you alive! You would bite down until the bitter end, but please don’t go grinding your teeth to sand!
Where to slice? What’s your hurry? Catch a breather! Try stopping for a bit. You’re like a scorched, burnt out, weary traveler on a long journey. You’d walk blindly by and never even notice this lotus pond that waits for you, right here; behind this gate-less gate. Won’t you give yourself permission to take a moment; to cool off and refresh? Your journey can wait. Set down those heavy thoughts of the past. Set down those cumbersome thoughts of the future. They’ve got you all knotted up, cut them loose! You know you’d carry it all better after you’ve quenched in the waters, chilled on the banks, and relaxed in the shade you made for yourself.
So where to slice? It hurts terribly to be so tangled up, inside and out, with a world that never stops spinning. It’s here in your practice, where the tangles get cut.
May you find peace in your practice. 🙏
Inspired by:
SN 7.6, With Bhāradvāja of the Matted Hair
MN 12, The Longer Discourse on the Lion’s Roar
I hope you like the artwork! It features the five remembrances / recommended daily reflections of Buddhism written on a Bodhi Tree leaf. Please feel free to download and print for your personal use; high resolution version here: LINK.
