Poetry Chaikhana Blog

Ivan M. Granger September 30th, 2009

You think of the Path
by Ram Tzu (Wayne Liquorman)

You think of the Path
As a long arduous climb
Up the mountain.

All disappear
Into the desert sands below

— from No Way: For the Spiritually “Advanced”, by Wayne Liquorman

/ Photo by mateo caprari /

Ramesh Balsekar died this past weekend, on September 27. He was a well-known as a spiritual teacher of Advaita Vedanta, the Hindu nondualist tradition. So I thought it might be appropriate to remember him through this poem by one of his best known Western students Wayne Liquorman (who sometimes writes under the pen name of Ram Tzu).

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In this poem, why do you suppose Ram Tzu has reversed the traditional image of the spiritual journey, transforming it from a path (or many paths) that go up a mountain into many streams that flow down a mountain… and disappear into sands? What is he saying about effort and non-effort? What does the image of the streams disappearing into the sands say about his nondualist perspective?

A few questions to contemplate…

Ram Tzu (Wayne Liquorman) US (1950 - ) Yoga / Hindu : Advaita / Non-Dualist Secular or Eclectic

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Ivan M. Granger September 30th, 2009

Dogma is for those
who have tired
of the search.

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Ivan M. Granger September 28th, 2009

To Be Shown to the Monks at a Certain Temple
by Chiao Jan

English version by J. P. Seaton

Not yet to the shore of nondoing,
it’s silly to be sad you’re not moored yet…
Eastmount’s white clouds say
to keep on moving, even
if it’s evening, even if it’s fall.

— from The Shambhala Anthology of Chinese Poetry, Edited by J. P. Seaton

/ Photo by bslmmrs /

On this Monday, when most people are starting their work week, focused on action and accomplishment, I thought Chiao Jan should remind us of the goal of “nondoing.”

Not yet to the shore of nondoing,
it’s silly to be sad you’re not moored yet…

To be “moored” implies the boat of the self has arrived at its destination — enlightenment. But what does that have to do with “nondoing”?

Nondoing isn’t so much inactivity; rather, in the midst of action, there is no personal sense of doership. Action takes place through you, but within you are quiet, at ease, a serene witness. Action no longer emerges from the impulses of the ego, and actions do not reinforce the ego. I know this sounds like a concept that only arcane philosophers would care about, but the actual experience is one of delightful, pure flow, as if a layer of grime has finally been washed from your hands. Movement just naturally occurs upon an open field of awareness. Some traditions describe this actionless action as writing on water, the movement occurs but no trace of ego is left behind.

So this is Chiao Jan’s nondoing.

But he is writing this from the perspective of an aging monk who hasn’t quite reached that shore yet. Even though it’s evening, even if it’s fall, even if if the years have gathered in our bones and hang upon our faces, the mountain of the east — the direction of sunrise and enlightenment — beckons us onward, and inward. We journey until we arrive.

And Chiao Jan is absolutely right: It is silly to be sad at not yet having arrived. There’s a secret key here, one that’s so easy to overlook in spiritual practice. It’s silly to be sad to be where one is. Think about that for a moment. To wish to be somewhere else, even if that somewhere is enlightenment, is to wish to be somewhere other than where you are. Whereas true enlightenment — and nondoing — are only possible when one is deeply present. It is only by fully being where we are that we then discover our boat has arrived at the shore.

Chiao Jan was an aristocrat during the Golden Age of the T’ang era in China. He later became a Ch’an (Zen) Buddhist monk.

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Ivan M. Granger September 28th, 2009

You need just this:

devotion
to the essential.

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Ivan M. Granger September 25th, 2009

A Holy Tabernacle in the Heart (from Life of the Future World)
by Rabbi Abraham Abulafia

English version by Jewish Theological Seminary

However,
      the breath
which is
      from the second one
is a
      holy
      tabernacle
in the heart.
One ascends
      with the Unique Name
      to the sky
      to depict with Unifications
      the relationship
between everything that
      is difficult
      in this
      science of pronunciation.
It alone is
      life in the Name.
It is remembered and sealed
      in the Book of Life
to make the individual live
      with passion
      which enlightens
constantly, when
      every thought,
      every soul
is concentrated on it.

— from Meditation and Kabbalah, by Aryeh Kaplan

/ Photo by Andréia /

Sunday evening begins Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.

When we approach our own imperfections with honesty, integrity, and humility, we are surprised to find ourselves freed and able to make new, better decisions in the future.

Our mistakes rarely come from lack of will power. It’s not usually that we didn’t try hard enough. When we really look, we discover that most of our mistakes come from limited perception. We make poor choices when our awareness is clouded. The work, then, is not to be stricter with ourselves; instead, we need to see ourselves and our world more clearly. When we do that the best path of action not only becomes obvious, it is the path we prefer.

to make the individual live
      with passion
      which enlightens
constantly, when
      every thought,
      every soul
is concentrated on it.

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There is an interesting connection in this verse that is easily missed. Rabbi Abulafia is, of course, saying something about the Kabbalistic practice of word permutations, as a way of discovering the foundational Word. This “Unique Name” becomes a ladder, allowing us to ascend to the heavenly realms, where we discover the interrelationship of things and the “Unifications” underlying reality.

But if we back up to the very beginning lines, he could be reminding us that this “science of pronunciation,” the speaking of words rides upon the breath. And the breath emerges from the “holy tabernacle in the heart.”

He is giving us a sacred formula:

Heart > Breath > Words > The Word > Heaven

Words without heart and breath, do they lead anywhere?

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Ivan M. Granger September 25th, 2009

When everything is deliberate,
everything works together
to awaken the awareness of liberation.

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Ivan M. Granger September 23rd, 2009

Interrelationship
by Thich Nhat Hanh

You are me, and I am you.
Isn’t it obvious that we “inter-are”?
You cultivate the flower in yourself,
so that I will be beautiful.
I transform the garbage in myself,
so that you will not have to suffer.

I support you;
you support me.
I am in this world to offer you peace;
you are in this world to bring me joy.

— from Call Me by My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh, by Thich Nhat Hanh

/ Photo by jmurawski /

This poem by the great modern Buddhist teacher and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh was written during a retreat for psychotherapists held in Colorado in response to Fritz Perls’ statement, “You are you, and I am me, and if by chance we meet, that’s wonderful. If not, it couldn’t be helped.”

This is a brief meditation on the Buddhist teaching of “inter-being.” Within the nondual awareness cultivated in Buddhism, especially the Zen Buddhism taught by Thich Nhat Hanh, nothing exists separately of everything else. Everything, ourselves included, is recognized as being a meeting point of shifting forces, environment, time, and perception. It is only in that touching, that interaction, that forms arise and individuals are said to exist. Remove those forces, and individual beings and objects cannot exist. In this sense, as individuals we are not spots that occupy space on the blank field of creation, rather we are empty spaces that are only suggested by the confluence of various forces. Discover that empty space, and you discover the eternal, blissful Void that is the true Self — void of form and “thingness,” but filled with life and awareness.

To return to Thich Nhat Hanh’s poem, as individuals with a certain body form and name and history, we exist only in the perception of each other. This is how he can pose the question, “Isn’t it obvious that we ‘inter-are’?”

By cultivating pure and compassionate awareness within ourselves, we transform those who perceive us, for their perception of us is a part of what they are composed of. And the more we “transform the garbage” in ourselves, the less that garbage shows up in those around us.

In this way of inter-being, the more we discover peace, the more we offer peace; the more we find joy, the more we bring joy.

Thich Nhat Hanh Vietnam (1929 - ) Buddhist : Zen / Chan

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Ivan M. Granger September 23rd, 2009

The oceanic silence will do the work.
Apply
just enough thought
to give form.

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Ivan M. Granger September 21st, 2009

When the Day Came
by Kabir

English version by Andrew Harvey

When the Day came –
The Day I had lived and died for –
The Day that is not in any calendar –
Clouds heavy with love
Showered me with wild abundance.
Inside me, my soul was drenched.
Around me, even the desert grew green.

— from Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations from the Sufi Wisdom, by Andrew Harvey / Eryk Hanut

/ Photo by aloshbennett /

It’s a rainy morning where I live in Colorado. Heavy clouds. Water hanging off each leaf…

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It is the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan for Muslims. For Hindus, it is the middle of Navaratri, the nine day festival of the Divine Mother. In Judaism, we just finished celebrating Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. And tomorrow is the Autumn Equinox.

Plenty of reason for almost everyone to go out and celebrate! Find a big puddle and splash around with both feet! Forget your umbrella.

Kabir India (15th Century) Timeline Muslim / Sufi Yoga / Hindu

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Ivan M. Granger September 21st, 2009

Be fully present.
Be totally naked.
Let the energy flow.
Feel everything.
Accept yourself completely.

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Ivan M. Granger September 18th, 2009

[508] I’m ceded–I’ve stopped being Theirs
by Emily Dickinson

I’m ceded–I’ve stopped being Theirs–
The name They dropped upon my face
With water, in the country church
Is finished using, now,
And They can put it with my Dolls,
My childhood, and the string of spools,
I’ve finished threading–too–

My second Rank–too small the first–
Crowned–Crowning–on my Father’s breast–
A half unconscious Queen–
But this time–Adequate–Erect,
With Will to choose, or to reject,
And I choose–just a Crown–

— from Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, Edited by Jane Hirshfield

/ Photo by live-showtime /

I believe this poem belongs among the great enlightenment poems. At the same time its words pointedly cut at religious convention.

Something has happened. Something that makes Emily Dickinson erupt from the opening lines, fiercely asserting that she is “ceded,” that she has “stopped being Theirs.” This is a proclamation of supreme yielding or dying to oneself that is also her escape into freedom.

She no longer has use for “The name They dropped upon my face” when she was baptized. That name is now something that she has set aside with other childish things. Not just set aside, it has fallen away. Her social identity, the person “They” call Emily has ceased to exist. She has discovered herself to be something larger, more essential, more true. She has exploded into an identity so immense and all-encompassing that it is the “supremest name” — the Ultimate, the Absolute. She has been “Called to my full,” a state of awareness in which “Existence’s whole Arc” is “filled up.”

But also notice the iconoclastic way she refers to baptism. The first baptism was a baptism given to her “without the choice” and imposes upon her a name that is “too small,” that must be grown out of and abandoned. She implies that that first baptism initiated her into the social world, not the spiritual one. That name that “They dropped upon my face” had trapped her, making her “Theirs,” somehow controlled and contained by societal conventions represented by the “country church.” She contrasts this with her “Crowning,” a second baptism, but one received inwardly, “consciously, of Grace.” She implies that this second baptism is the real anointing that gives true freedom, not the baptism she received as a child. For much of the Christian world that is a dangerous assertion even today, a century and a half later. Her words challenge fellow Christians to seek the inner anointing, of which the outer baptism is a reflection.

The last line particularly grabs my attention, “And I choose–just a Crown–” Rather than choosing (or rejecting) a new name or renewed social ego, she possesses the clarity and “Will” to choose instead to reside in the immensity of this “supremest name.” What else needs to be said?

Emily Dickinson US (1830 - 1886) Timeline Secular or Eclectic Christian : Protestant

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Ivan M. Granger September 18th, 2009

Faith is recognizing that we are always, irrevocably
being drawn into the Divine Embrace.

Grace is what occurs
when we stop obstructing that natural process.

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Ivan M. Granger September 16th, 2009

seeker of truth
by e. e. cummings

seeker of truth

truth is here

— from E.E. Cummings: Complete Poems 1904-1962, by e. e. cummings

/ Photo by Nifty.. /

A little nondual wisdom for us today by the great e. e. cummings.

Should I say more? Nope.

e. e. cummings US (1894 - 1962) Timeline Secular or Eclectic

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Ivan M. Granger September 14th, 2009

It was like a stream
by Akka Mahadevi

English version by A. K. Ramanujan

It was like a stream
      running into the dry bed
      of a lake,
                  like rain
      pouring on plants
      parched to sticks.

Seeing the feet of the master
O lord white as jasmine,
      I was made
      worthwhile.

— from Women Writing in India: 600 BC to the Present: Volume 1, Edited by Susie Tharu / Edited by K. Lalita

/ Photo by Wofgang Staudt /

You know, there is always a question people are afraid to ask, or just don’t think to ask… So let’s ask it now:

What in the world are these poets and mystics really talking about? Is there anything real behind all of these esoteric poems and sacred scriptures?

Once we step away from heavily laden words like God or heaven or enlightenment, we have to ask if these are just lovely word games and endless philosophical speculation.

I guess all of that is a roundabout way of asking the blunt question, What is the real point to a lifetime of spiritual striving?

Here’s a little secret that isn’t often mentioned in church or mosque or synagogue: In deepest communion, when the mind is still and the heart open, we are flooded by such an immense, ecstatic joy that nothing else can compare to it.

Let me say that again, because it is not some pretty philosophical notion; it is real, and directly perceived: When the mind is still and the heart open, we are flooded with an immense, ecstatic joy beyond describing.

That flood brings with it a profound sense of life. It is a sense of being alive that is utterly new, unknown until that moment. It is as if we experience what it means to be alive for the first time. Christians speak of this as the rebirth. Eastern traditions speak of it as awakening. That flood — it feels like a rushing stream — finally slakes a deep thirst we didn’t know we had.

It was like a stream
      running into the dry bed
      of a lake,
                  like rain
      pouring on plants
      parched to sticks.

In other words, yes, these poets are actually describing something real. It is something felt and tangible. The spiritual journey is not about withering discipline or theological correctness, clinging to a dusty ideal unto the grave. It is about life! And a very real deep, mysterious delight!

The theologian reformulates other people’s descriptions sugar, and tells himself he is content. But the mystic is only satisfied with tasting it.

The spiritual journey is about discovering the very real sweetness that you are.

O lord white as jasmine,
      I was made
      worthwhile.

Akka Mahadevi India (12th Century) Timeline Yoga / Hindu : Shaivite (Shiva)

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Ivan M. Granger September 14th, 2009

The destination’s gift
is contained in the journey itself.

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Ivan M. Granger September 14th, 2009

I was introduced to this video by Johnny Mg Kwlmann, a delightful musical rendition of the recently featured poem by Bulleh Shah:

To Me, I Am Not Known

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Ivan M. Granger September 11th, 2009

True person manifest throughout the ten quarters of the world
by Dogen

English version by Steven Heine

The true person is
Not anyone in particular;
But, like the deep blue color
Of the limitless sky,
It is everyone, everywhere in the world.

— from The Zen Poetry of Dogen: Verses from the Mountain of Eternal Peace, by Steven Heine

/ Photo by Alejandra Mavroski /

It’s been too long since our last selection by Dogen Zenji.

True to Zen form, Dogen cuts right to the essential here.

Look for the true person deeply enough, and we find it. We find it in ourselves. But not in ourselves in a particular way. It is not in oneself while absent in another. We are quietly startled to discover that this true person is not contained by our skin. It does not stop at the edges of our lives. It does not even restrict itself to the borders of our far-flung thoughts. No, it flows out in all directions, utterly heedless of walls and distances and the greedy human mind.

But, like the deep blue color
Of the limitless sky,
It is everyone, everywhere in the world.

Find that one. Not only will you have found the true person, you will have discovered your very self spread out across existence!

Dogen Japan (1200 - 1253) Timeline Buddhist : Zen / Chan

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