Comment by 2bitmoment on 24/01/2025 at 22:49 UTC*

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)

View submission: Friday Night Zen Poetry Slam: Promises of happiness, “zazen for nothing”

View parent comment

There's a famous quote

if you're not confused

then you're not paying attention

(about quantum something or other

electro chroma-dynamics kkkkkkkkk)

a mote of dust

a fused mistrust

and the fuel of lamps

is nearly gone

Buddha left home,

left human concepts

of love and duty

he had many adepts

and was never moody

rotten or burnt?

felt like asking

fictional pages

so it can be both

tasks and masks

and fears of deportation

ICE and lice

and fears of cooties

What use is zen

for a refugee?

will it grant asylum?

feed hungry mouths?

apart from all the negations

what can you say?

do you have purpose

from january to may?

in your zen study

in sitting zazen

or is it just nonsense

to keep boredom at bay?

Replies

Comment by Pops12358 at 25/01/2025 at 00:48 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

There is no you or me,

Maybe some day you'll see,

That's an old game for kids,

Meant to pop off their lids,

After you sit for long enough,

You begin to wonder is this enough?

I've seen what others have done before,

So I try for something more.

We have fun, this is true,

Don't let my words turn you blue,

I once read an old text,

Used as a Platform for the rest.

It puzzled me to no end,

When you know he couldn't read,

Why would he pretend?

The better question I asked myself,

Why did he never take a book from a shelf?

He found it without knowing how to read,

Heard it on the wind, yes indeed.

Hahahaha.

Zen has many uses my friend,

It just depends.

Be you a layman,

Or someone with heavy vows,

How you shoulder the duty,

Of singing cows.

I've heard an old tale,

Of a man we both Revere,

His son walked out to him,

Showing no fear,

He kneeled and asked quite plain,

For his inheritance or what did remain,

I've heard some speak highly of his wife,

She managed the kingdom, kept it from strife,

Are these tales true, I don't know,

But they paint a bigger picture of a man we should know.

A wiser man than me once said,

There is suffering but no one who suffers.

Do you think he was poisoned or did he walk home?

With only one shoe?

Hahaha