Practice poems: responding to Zen sources

Over a period of many years, I have developed a way of studying and reflecting on Zen sources that helps me integrate the material, by going more deeply than an initial read ever can.

In a way, it parallels the ancient Benedictine tradition of prayer called Lectio Divina, in which the practitioner stays with a short text for some time, varying their approach to the material, integrating it more deeply and fully as they go.

As I read through a passage, I stop whenever something has a strong impact upon me, and copy it into a document. Later, I look at the excerpts I’ve collected from one source, and reflect further on how they speak to me.

Responses in poetic form then naturally rise up. Some of the poems consist entirely of my own words, and some are like collages, where I mix up original source phrases with my own.

I’ve discovered that this creative process helps me discover what I feel and think about what I’ve read. It unlocks something intuited, something at the heart of the matter at hand, and brings it out into the open, into my present-day life.

What follows are a few examples from this practice.

the host after Shitou Xiqian

a grass hut
easily blown down
here today, gone tomorrow

such are our thoughts and plans
such are the conditions of our life
such is what we call self

but the hut has an undying host
who will never leave
receiving passing circumstances as guests
seeing them off when it is time for them to go

who or what is this host?

surely not some being
surely not some thing at all

only an ephemeral capacity
for stability and simplicity
immediately gathering all things into one

how wondrous and unsurpassable
how beyond the meager means
of this guest

and yet aren’t I,
aren’t the passing circumstances,
aren’t all the guests that come and go,
also the host in disguise?

I am not It; It is now me after Dongshan Liangjie

walking along a path
I dreamed I knew who I was

a substantial subject
in a world of substantial objects
this subject was carried forth everywhere
experiencing the myriad objects

in this dream I was It

but I came to a river
and stepped ankle-deep into a calm eddy
water rippling away from my legs
and I awoke from the dream

I beheld my reflection in the moonlit water
undulating, reshaping, reflecting light and shadow
never still, ceaselessly altering, here and then not here
but so was the one standing in the water!

all forms and all reflections
all things as they are and all delusions
myriad things come forth and experience themselves
as this and that, as you and me

we are not separate, fixed subjects and objects
we are shimmering expressions
of the one quality that is empty of form
out of which we come

It is now me

continue the family business after Hongzhi Zhengjue

take the backward step
into the shelter of stillness
sitting serenely, with stability
intimately accept your situation
eagerly wander, romp, and play
in the center of the empty field

cast off head and skin
contemplate your own authentic form
face phenomena with total sincerity
stay with that just as that, with this just as this
casually mount the sounds and straddle the colors
engage the fluctuations with an empty and spirited eye

the deep original source is illuminated
the field of bright spirit
the guiding mind
the total body

then freely step across
engage the world with energy
face what is abandoned
gather it together and integrate it
practice without carrying a single thread
freely exploring mutual response

life arises and is fulfilled
all estrangement eliminated
the cold stream cleanses the moon
the wind in the pines is content in its element
and the ropes around your feet are severed

being a person of suchness after Eihei Dogen

whatever is before you,
within you, around you
thoroughly explore it!

for as it is,
it is what is called suchness
it is that which comes as this
and is worthy of your respect

to attain it
to be verified by it
is to be a person of suchness

if you want to be such a person
practice suchness immediately

it is not difficult
for just by desiring it
you are such a person

you need not worry
whether you are experiencing suchness well, or badly
but even though you may be worried
that is also that which comes as this

and your worry
is not something to worry about