*To a Korean friend:

‘The old man of the village
called us back
to drink three cups
beneath the crooked mulberry.

Mankind is small
but this drunkenness is wide and great–
where now is Japan, where is your Korea?’ *

Just thought- lines in the shifting sand
drawn in the mind by the wind-fingers of karma…
Yet in identifying more with one side
it’s as though we see through just one eye…
and define and reify with the other

And a deeper sense of fragmentation
with agitation and polarisation
occurs through biased interpretation
of the contra-distinction of conceptualisations

Yet… all this mental activity comes to naught
for what is really made by thought?
Where does it take us to ?
Nowhere –
still here,
but not quite simply being

See how, with just a little space…
‘Nowhere’ becomes ‘Now here’ …
my little joke : )
… opening to our potential
**to live in equanimity, calmly and contentedly

free from all care, acting naturally and reasonably
Not striving to avoid delusion nor seeking after the truth…
…knowing delusions as baseless and truth as ourself**

So… may dualistic tensions be recognised as baseless … and dissolve in the deep peace of their origin… May we and all beings fully realise how we actually are…

This plant, without my glasses on, looked dead… so I was about to take down its drying stems and leaves…
but on closer inspection noticed what looked like buds and so left them, and instead watered the
pot…
and was surprised by flowers in January!

Will there be flowers from new growth…maybe…
Will there be flowers from old stems ?…maybe…

Botanically… the potential for flowering may be present but it is latent, unless and until the necessary
causes and conditions are in place…

If the bud’s not fully developed then it cannot not open to the warmth of the sun’s rays…and the viability of the plant itself depends upon so many factors…
activity in the stem and leaves and roots,
survival of the greenfly onslaught, fertility of soil, nutrition, freedom from disease…sufficient watering… space… and light

Dharmically… our potential to realise how we are is ever-present…and although realisation is not a product of conditions…
dharma ‘re-conditioning’ can bring about a softening and loosening …
easing out from fixity and rigidity…to more spaciousness and lightness…

Perhaps we had some presents to unwrap at Christmas…
but we already have so many riches –
all we need to help us unwrap from the beliefs which constrict own potential.

We currently have ‘on loan’… and (ahem…) we don’t know how long the lease is!
~ this human body, along with the faculties and freedoms which allow us to appreciate and connect with the stream of dharma we’ve encountered…
~ access to so many of James’ and others’ clear dharma explanations… with the opportunity to ask questions to clarify our understanding of what we’ve read and seen and heard…
from this, and also from example…
~ connection with compassion which arises from openness… free of assumption and appropriation, free from the objectification of dualising consciousness

All this… as movements of the mind… which is not on-loan…but ‘the chief’…. a given and enduring treasure…
can evoke the scents of ease and freshness and act as a catalyst for the realisation of our own
potential freedom.

Inviting that slight, yet deep adjustment, from being not quite here…
to being fully present as presence…
so we too may flower from openness,
unconditioned… 

A bit more on connectivity to follow …but this, is plenty long enough!

* from William Wray’s Sayings and tales of Zen Buddhism

** from the Sutra of Wei Leung