Longing is Light

Ah!

This very longing,

The light of being, transmitted.

There is nothing else.

John Bailes: Kotatsu Roko

In response to Douglas Penick’s poem

15 November 2012

Prospect Hill, Somerville

the scepter that arises from heart which is all good, always.

Tuesday, 13 November 2012

We, The Monmouth Zen Circle, had a great time sitting zazen last Saturday at Blue Moon Yoga in Shrewsbury NJ. Two brothers, twins, Bassem and Sofi joined us in the afternoon just before the dharma talk. Bassem and Sofi are in third grade. They courteously sat through zazen instruction, and then a good ten minutes of zazen. When I asked them if they had any questions, Sofi asked me about right speech. It didn't take long to get from Right Speech to Jedi Knights and the Force and the light and the dark. I showed them the Jedi Scepter Norman Fischer gave to me. We talked about Bodhisattva's, Warriors, the Light, the Good, the Dark and Beyond light and dark and beyond good and bad. We talked about how posture is deeply related to the light and the good. We talked about good posture as the doorway to "All's Good" and the importance of vertical and horizontal and the scepter that arises from heart which is all good, always. Bassem and Sofi understood this directly. They know. We adults know too but somehow what we call life has gotten in the way. That life is really death. It is not even real death. It is more like purgatory or some kind of hell where we are all waiting for something and we are all hiding from something. If it were real death we would be completely alive. The open heart is scepter, a wand, that makes all good. Open heart is beyond life and death.