Journal Restoration

"I was a junior bodhisattva then named
'No More Tricks'
and was sent to sit with the boulders here
an aeon or two
til the soil came up to my eyes."
  – Gary Snyder, "Siberian Outpost"







"And why not? Bhagavan, the perception of a self is no perception, and the perception of a being, a life, or a soul is also no perception. And why not? Because Buddhas and bhagavans are free of all perceptions."


Ice over Booth Courtenay Trail
many lenses
elm leaves oak leaves maples
preserved – clean crisp jagged edges still–
soaks in some sunshine
and melts around it
leaving a holder, a platform to see time –
the other day
I walked in among the leafless,
loppers in hand
and after a few horizontal cuts
it wasn't me any longer,
had melted down into that hollow
and knew the contours
of the dolomite imported in here
for the junipers.
Names gave way to tree types–
hours to limbs and finally perfect brush piles
they were but weren't bodies of things
themselves
laying there, cross-legged at places,
waiting their turn but not waiting

Bhagavan got there by breathing

ah Diamond Sutra