by Mary Ann | Jun 11, 2013 | Poems
by Robert Lockridge
Love is like a blooming bush,
That cannot wait for spring;
Heart stays still in sudden hush
That joy and sorrow bring.
What fills us up must then flow out,
Until the whole world sings;
In grace and fullness twirl about—
And do not wait for spring.
Love is like the searing sun
That marks stark summer’s height;
Heart can hold but only one
And has no other sight.
All other senses drop away,
Or soar in endless flight;
Intent is helpless in its sway—
So only hold its height.
Love is like the morning chill
That rustles leaves in fall;
Foretelling how the winter will
Soon cast a bitter pall
On everything that brightly shone
On summer’s fertile soil;
With no ceremony followed, gone—
So heed the rustling call.
Love is like the bitter cold
That covers winter’s ground;
All that matters bought and sold,
And lost without a sound
Of protest from a hateful earth,
That once we twirled around;
Only seek to find rebirth—
And thaw hard winter’s ground.
by Mary Ann | May 15, 2013 | Study Resources
Stepping Out of Self-Deception: The Buddha’s Liberating Teaching of No-Self, by Rodney Smith 
— a book review by Peter Carlson
I bought this book at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies on the last day of my 3-month retreat at the Forest Refuge, on the first day of December, 2012. I started reading it that day and just finished it today, April 29, 2013. This is a much longer period of time that it usually takes to read a book on the Dhamma, the reason being that it’s a remarkably deep rendering of anatta, the Buddhist term to describe the complex interdependence of my lived experience. This is a book to savor—to read a bit at a time, allow an inner space to grow, then revisit.
(more…)
by Mary Ann | May 15, 2013 | Poems
by Robert Lockridge
36 years ago
—Just yesterday—
I looked into his eyes
For the first time.
And when I say in my poems
That the light of a thousand eyes
Sets fire to the universe
That is what I mean.
We named him Keir Hardie
After a man
Who died of a broken heart
when he could not stop a war,
Who would not stand for one msn
Being put above another,
Who wanted freedom and dignity
for everyone.
He has lived up to that.
Someday his strong and gentle arms
Will hold me, helpless,
As once I held him.
And the circle is complete.
360 degrees.
Rivers are rivers.
Mountains are mountains.
No mountains, no rivers.
Hah!
Looking up,
The sun is bright and warm,
The air is cool.
Tears on cheeks,
Heart breaks and heals itself,
Peace comes.
by Mary Ann | May 6, 2013 | Poems
by Robert Lockridge
Bitter training
Breeds sweet result.
But maybe not what you seek.
Leave behind the faculties made
To cradle and secure your fantasies.
Watch them flow away
Like water through open fingers.
Watch your mind grasp at fluidity,
Scratch and claw at earth,
Reach to the sky
To contain the wind,
Grip and clutch
White-hot coals
In utter and futile hysteria.
Again
And again
And again.
Do this without relief
Until desperate utility
Rules your aimless passion,
And imploding into your heart
Breaks through the wall of self.
From this no effort survives.
No grasping is possible
No comfort remains.
And absent that blinded toil,
The making mind is shattered
Like a glass goblet
On the stone steps at Diamond Hill,
And the universe fills
With the light of a thousand eyes.
Clear direction comes.
Correct function presents itself.
Action is required.
Sweet result,
Bitter burden.
Maybe not
what I
Am seeking.
by Mary Ann | Mar 24, 2013 | Study Resources
This article describes several useful apps that can be downloaded to support regular meditation practice. I want to add another that I use that isn’t on their list: Insight Timer. It can be downloaded here. I wish you well. Peter