Meditatie over grijpen en hechten

16-09-2010

Gedicht van Barton Stone, uit de nieuwsbrief april 2006 van Berkeley Zen Center, geciteerd door Alan Senauke in zijn Dharma Talk van 2007 in San Francisco Zen Center.

I discovered that it is necessary, absolutely necessary,
to believe in nothing.

(Shunryu Suzuki: Zen mind, beginner's mind.
New York 1995, p. 115)

Meditation on Grasping and Clinging

Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva addressed the assembled beings with deep compassion:

Birth and death are relentless
and you are right to tremble as you behold them
for all things are void of self-nature and
Your alkaline diet will not save you.
Your workout routine will not save you
The Beatles will not come back to save you
Organic produce will not save you
Your vows will not save you
Mutual funds will not save you
Poetry will not save you
Zazen will not save you
Tree-planting will not save you
Washboard abs will not save you
A clean car will not save you
Psychedelics will not save you
Your teacher will not save you
Big Mind will not save you
Your family will not save you
Neither wit nor charm will save you
Rare gold coins will not save you
Jesus will definitely not save you
Virtue will not save you
Solar panels will not save you
Fame and fortune will not save you
Your super-comfortable Sharper Image styrofoam pellet zafu will not save you
Not even Constance's love will save you
Hearing aids will not save you
Expatriation will not save you
Degrees and credentials will not save you
Hope will not save you
Extended orgasms will not save you
The Great Mother's arms will not save you
No amount of vitamins and supplements will save you
Art will not save you
Meditations on grasping and clinging will not save you
Giddy episodes of gratitude will not save you
Anti-oxidants will not save you
Your grandchildren will not save you
Your reputation will not save you
The people's eventual uprising will not save you
Extraterrestrial entities will not save you no matter how high their vibrational level
Beauty will not save you
Modesty will not save you
Invisibility will not save you
Hilarity will not save you
Clever turns of phrase will not save you
The esteem of your colleagues will not save you
Green tea and flax oil will not save you
Being debt-free will not save you
Hope for one more sunrise will not save you.

Many of the assembled beings on that day, hearing those words, and taking them to heart, immediately attained complete, unsurpassed, perfect life-as-it-is, trembling and all!