Smoke, Wind, and Leaves, a Guide to Life revised

 

            Write without stopping or pausing for too long, see if insight and wisdom emerge. Perhaps you will enjoy another cup of tea? Or to strike a bell or contemplate a statue? What exactly and precisely are you looking for? More relaxation, attainment of Buddha nature, freedom from worry and concern? The ability to simply enjoy one’s life? Perhaps a long sad song, or a few notes of a wooden flute? Maybe the fluttering of wind chimes or the burning of incense? Where is this challenge you once contemplated so earnestly? Perhaps you must let it go or simply resolve itself on its own accord.

            Attention and focus can be continually honed and refined. True nature and basic goodness can be cultivated infinitely and without question. Fear can evaporate and steam. Worry can become mist. Leaves float in the wind. An angel’s wings flutter mysteriously like paintbrushes ready to paint a picture. 

            Perhaps the rice pot will one day again bubble and boil away in contentment. Forever and effortlessly realizing Tao challenges of life are like a duck floating on the water. Be a river my friend, it can flow or it can crush. It can sit and it can write, perhaps it can even love and dream if it allows itself to do so, and is able to free itself from unnecessary judgments and worries.

            How much longer must my book be? When has it begun and when will it end? Will Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Li Po, all read it from their graves and laugh? How many times has it been written before and with who’s sweat and tears? Once I could hear a Bodhisattva smiling and it sounded like one hand clapping in the woods. Once I stopped to ponder the mystery and drank another cup of tea and was afraid to write my innermost feelings. Where have you gone, and when will you return?

            How much more deeply or lightly must I bow in order to realize the way? Did the master really chop through a brick and a two by four with his bare hand? Did he want to do this or was it just done because? How much more closely must I look into these matters and focus only on what is most critically important to attain enlightenment and realize Tao? Perhaps I am weak because I must ask myself questions such as this. I must trouble my peace of mind and skillfulness with idle contemplation, like an intellect that is not properly restrained and guided. Perhaps like a man in a boat, I will be forever polishing a tile. I will be forever expansively aware. 

            Will a little incense help me with my meditation? Perhaps I will be able to pray more deeply and with more fervor. I can hear the sound of my own prayers. Not always so, not always so. A China shop and why I no longer light my cigarette. What do the wind chimes sound like when they flutter in the wind?

            How much longer must I sit to realize Tao and accept myself completely? Does the five-animal frolic? Does the dragon really breath fire and fly through the sky effortlessly and joyfully? Beat the drums, sound the gongs, ring the cymbals. The moonlight within I watch forever and ever.

            Drinking plenty of tea and watching the incense burn I always learn what I must. These words are perhaps beautiful and elegant, to be appreciated and enjoyed. Taking time to weave a story and reflection filled with insight and wisdom that will enliven and stimulate the mind and lead to ultimate Nirvana. Study the way. Study the way. Reflect. Pray. Meditate. Bow. Eat. Drink. Be Happy.

            So simple, still I continue to write this book. Still, I push myself to produce another line, another paragraph, another page. I always just write what must be written. Can I remember how enjoyable it was to draw a beautiful picture or painting? Looking at these again is a great enjoyment for me; how lucky I am that it is still possible to draw and paint. As I spend time writing this book it changes the quality of my awareness and this inner reflection on how awareness shifts are critical. How has the time spent reading this book changed the quality of the readers awareness? Look deeply within, not just on the surface. 

            A China Shop differs greatly from an American Shop, seemingly much more delicate, volatile, and precarious, or even much sturdier, though the many subtilties still elude me. This is a book of insight, amusement and enlightenment. Are you working, I wonder? Perhaps I must bow more deeply today, since I feel continually haunted by my desires, fears, memories and so on. Is it possible to suspend worry, doubt and fear and simply focus on writing this book? Perhaps I will continue to bow and pray and meditate further on this concept of a “Bodhisattva’s light”, or a being that has attained Buddha nature and has now returned to the world in order to help other beings attain enlightenment, Nirvana, Buddha nature, “moksha”, liberation, freedom from “samsara”, freedom from suffering caused by attachment, caused by desire and fear, caused by “egoic clinging”, caused by unnecessary worry.

            This notion of a Boddhisatvic state of being, even as a permanent state of being, is a very powerful notion. Perhaps worry, suffering and pain will always be present, or always be looming in the past or future, but various philosophers and Buddhists say otherwise. They state, in various texts, that “Nirvana” or Buddha nature is a real possibility. They state that this realized state of consciousness is inherent within oneself already and it is just a matter of becoming aware of this in order to become enlightened, or become a “Buddha”. These of course are mere words, this of course is a mere book, the same book that has been written by many other minds and hands throughout the ages. It is the finger pointing at the moon, the hinted at, but not yet realized.

            Perhaps it will help to awaken someone who still believes in the illusion of suffering? I do not know, I am merely the bow, I am merely the sound of the gong being struck, I am merely a child laughing or an old man crying. Perhaps you will brew another cup of tea and meditate on this further. Perhaps you will say some prayers to yourself in silence in order to help free yourself and all sentient beings from unnecessary suffering.

            Perhaps you will meditate further on how you must actualize Tao and complete your fate in this world of impermanence, happiness, sadness and so on. Now can you accept that you will experience great joy, happiness, and optimism in this life. You will have the great privilege to help take care of family, friends, business associates, and loved ones, with great ability and flexibility to do all that you enjoy most in life. There is nothing wrong and even though what is most important is sometimes veiled it is always present within and there is no problem. Today I am happy to write words of enlightenment.

            Praying and bowing to oneself constantly all throughout the day helps one manage in life skillfully and with grace. Because this makes life easy there is really nothing much to be concerned about even in unusual circumstances. If encountering doubts and worries often these can be remedied skillfully and effectively with a simple meditation on true basic inherent goodness, which always resides within.