Rings

We are all many layers thick.
We build each layer from the inside
in response to something on the outside.

What these many rings protect
is sometimes heartwood.
Sometimes a hollow trunk.

Split a Log

Split a log,
and I am there,
Jesus said
in the gospel
of Thomas.

We're there, too.
Just not the same
way the log is.

What There Is to See

We see so little
of what there is to see.

Is the universe
hiding from us 
to protect us from itself?

Or is the blindness
our own to discover?

Beauty and Decay

Beauty and decay
create one another.

One wants to see joy.
The other expects destruction.

To get rid of one,
get rid of the other.

To embrace both as one
is the only other way.

Enough Sometimes

It is enough sometimes
to study the reflection
on the surface of the pool
while you wait
for the water
to clear.

The Only Thing Left

The chance to do something
is not necessarily the time to do it.

What looks high today
will look low tomorrow.

When I trust for a path and look,
the only thing left is to see.

Leaving Prints

Bare limbs
leave their
fingerprints
above us.

Every one
distinct.

Without Time

Without time,
distance is an illusion.

Without distance,
ego is an illusion.

Without ego,
the ten thousand things
are an illusion.

Without the
ten thousand things,
always Tao remains.

Not Forever

Winter can
stop a river.

But not forever.

Brush

Do the fingers
of tree branches
touch other trees?

Do they run
their hands over
each other's bark?

Do they scratch
one another raw
until bleeding sap?

How do they
keep from driving
each other crazy?

Humanitarian

Listen to the hurting.
Sit with the grieving.
Kneel with the terrified.

Creation and Destruction

Making and destroying.
Building and tearing down.
Filling up and pouring out.
Being born and being buried.

The ten thousand things
forever arise and wither away.

Is death so hard to take
because we don't want
to leave all of this behind?

Or is it because we know
that nothing we leave will last.

Coated in Time

A layer of life lies
between earth and sky
like a boundary.

Not earth. Not sky.

But what was once
sky is now earth.
What was once earth
is now flesh and bone.

The universe is an illusion
Tao creates with time.

Humility

Humility is
a willingness
to live in awe.

Without Both

Light and dark bring
vision into being.

Without both,
we remain blind.

Good and evil
work the same way.

Without both,
we're spiritually blind.

Water Tao

Water flows forever downward
and dissipates into thin air.

It is the bearer of all things.
It endlessly flows and returns.

It is like a reflection of the Tao.
A reflection of your own face.

Difficulty

Difficult passages are always ahead. 
Even the rich and lovely are not immune.

Do what each moment calls for,
and even the difficult cannot last.

Skeletons

Bare limbs in winter.
Skeletons of clouds.

Dreams all night.
Skeletons of Tao.

What a Stream Brings

An eddy in a stream
traps fallen leaves.

Minnows hide underneath.
Bass haunt the edges.

The fish draw the anglers.
The anglers draw the shops.

Commerce builds a community.
The stream changes course.

Reach Across

When I cultivate a friendship
with someone who is not like me,
both of us grow richer.

A Mystic Hears

A mystic hears a voice.
Who whispers in her ear?

A sage listens deep inside.
What wells up from within?

A baby stares unblinking.
What holds its attention so?

The World Described

Words are tools of thought.

We use them to explain
the world to ourselves.

The world we describe inside
creates the world we see outside.

This is why words matter.

Mossy Path

A moss-covered path
is still a path,
a way through the forest.

Well-worn paths
lead to places where
people want to go,
but don't want to stay.

Four Walls

The first keeps us
from seeing our flaws.

The next keeps us
from seeing our merits.

The next keeps us
from seeing each other.

The last keeps us
from seeing ourselves.

Blind Light

To be struck blind
on a spiritual road
is nothing new.

It happens all the time.

The arresting thing
is how much light hides
in that temporary darkness.

Stop Looking

I am a knot of perceptions
traveling through time and space,
and yet every moment contains
more than I could ever take in.

When I stop looking, I see this.

Below

What is surface?
What is depth?

First we learn
to see the surface.

Then we learn
to seek what lies

below.

Finding Faces

We are a communal species.
We see faces even
where there aren't any.