Different Roads Home

Walk one road and
end up at one place.

Walk a different road and
end up at a different place.

And yet, do we not arrive
back home in the end?

Illusion

What is inside us
and what is outside us
do not seem to be the same.

Another illusion.

Intersections

Peace and war intersect
at the crossing of difficulty and ease.

Ignorance and wisdom intersect
at the crossing of blindness and sight.

Joy and suffering intersect
at the crossing of heaven and earth.

Seven Gifts

Amity amid conflict.
Grace amid strife.
Patience amid loss.
Serenity amid chaos.
Insight amid suffering.
Generosity amid poverty.
Compassion amid fear.

Storm

Lightning splits the sky in two
like a yardstick striking a desk.

Thunder tumbles across the city
like children sent out to play.

Runoff courses through gutters
like rumors across a schoolyard.

Child's play in the hands of the Divine.

Out of Lack

Gratitude grows out of lack
and flowers in abundance.

Hunger Makes Me Grateful

Hunger makes me grateful
for the food on my plate.

Thirst makes me grateful
for the drink in my cup.

Illness makes me grateful
for every breath I take.

Loneliness makes me grateful
for every friend I meet.

The Nature of Patience

Patience is like water.
It flows past frustrations
like a river around stones.

True patience has no end.
It can level a mountain
of pain and disappointment.

It wells up from the spring
that nourishes us all and
keeps us steady in this moment.

You Can Keep Him

Why would a loving God
bring us into this life
without our permission
and expect us to be perfect,
then cast us into eternal hell
after we die if we fail
to live up to His demands?

Doesn't sound very loving to me.

Saturated

A branch floats along a river.
Water soaks into the fibers,
and the wood sinks to the bottom.

Does the branch become the river
because it's saturated with water?

Does the water become a branch
because it saturates the wood?

Does Tao stop being Tao
just because it saturates us?

Answers and Questions

Which matters more?
The answer to a question,
or the question itself?

Which lasts longer?
The satisfaction of an answer,
or the fascination of a question?

Which rings truer?
The clearest answer,
or the simplest question?

Seek and Find

When I seek, I find.

What I find is not
always what I seek.

What I seek
is not important.

What I find
is not important.

What matters
is the seeking.

Only the New Lasts

We set a stone to mark
the passing of a loved one
and hope it will last forever.

But even stones
are not permanent.
The old passes away
to make room for the new.

This is the only permanence
the universe offers.

Among Trees

Be present among trees,
and trees will be present in you.

Be mindful among flowers,
and flowers will be mindful of you.

Be aware of birds singing,
and birds will sing your whole life.

Hidden

Isolation hides fear.
Fear hides misery.
Misery hides insight.

Resting Tao, Working Tao

Nothing I do for myself
brings greater comfort
than resting in the Tao.

Nothing I do for others
brings greater pleasure
than working in the Tao.

None

No mystery
is deeper
than Tao.

No question
is broader
than God.

No doubt
is longer
than Compassion.

The Limit of Imagination

What is the limit of imagination?
What is the border of thought?
What is the boundary of the unknown?

Only the imagination can imagine
a limit to the imagination.

Only thought can think out
the borders of thought.

Only the unknown can know
the boundaries of the unknown.

Simple Sight

Seeing is easy
when I remember
to look at what's right
in front of my eyes.

No Opposite

Light creates darkness.
Sight creates blindness.
Order creates chaos.

Only Tao has no opposite.

Passing Through?

Passing through
this moment
is not possible.

Only being
in this moment
is possible.

Thinking I am
somewhere else
is an illusion.

Easing the Way for All

What makes us think
we have to make others change
to our way of thinking
to protect our way of thinking?

Why do we believe
others have to believe
what we believe
to safeguard what we believe?

We each must follow our own path.
Mutual respect eases the journey
for each of us.

The Gift of Distractions

What a gift
a distraction can be.

A reminder
of the larger world
and my place in it.

And its place in me.

We Are All

We are all worthy,
but we don't see it.

We are all sacred,
but we don't know it.

We are all divine,
but we don't believe it.

Three Journeys

Climb a mountain
and see across valleys.

Swim a river
and reach new ground.

Listen in stillness
and hear the Divine.

God Was Once

God was once a man.
God was once a woman.
God was once a snake.
God was once a storm.
God was once a great fish.
God was once a burning bush.
God was once a sacred thought.
God was once a lover.
God was once a star.
God was once a child.
God was once a mystery.
God was once a god.
God was once a terror.
God was once a killer.
God was once an ocean.
God was once a mountaintop.
God was once a door.
God was once an emptiness.
God was once the way.
God was once you and me.
And continues to be.

A Wave of Being

A stalk of grass.
Here today,
gone tomorrow.

Its life seems
as brief as a breeze.
And yet the universe
took billions of years
to bring it into being.

The least I can do
is pay attention
to its waving.

World at Work

Heavy weather drains
the skies of wind and rain.

Quakes strip the earth
of tension and imbalance.

Volcanoes rob mountains
of deep molten pressure.

Silence relieves the mind
of chatter and distraction.

Listening, Watching, Waiting

Listening for silence
is like listening for God.

Watching for light
is like watching for Grace.

Waiting for wisdom
is like waiting for Tao.

I Am Never

Asleep or awake,
I am never fully aware.

Warm or cold,
I am never fully at home.

Hungry or filled,
I am never fully satisfied.

Alone or together,
I am never fully known.

Silent or outspoken,
I am never fully heard.

Happy or grieved,
I am never fully lost.