Here is a jewel hung on an immense, floating net.
A bright gem clasped along a string that we dangle on.
Look, see this sparkling stone of dirt, of wood and
water that reflects the surface of the fleeting mind.
It's there in the sky of space, immeasurably.
Clouds come and go without birth or death or aging.
Swinging, we live swinging in this open space.
Look at the looking mind.
See what happens.
It's what is looking at the path along the lake.
Keep looking there.
Stay with the looking mind.
Watch how it fills with form, feelings even urges.
Watch. Words, phrases even sentences form.
They crowd out the looking.
Formed ideas, strengthened views and feelings soon
follow. The looker is lost in this unruly bunch.
Desire for order joins in. A judgement and conclusion
take charge.
So there.
Gestures seal the pact.
We are done.
Done in by the filled in views. It thickens and solidifies.
How quick, unnoticed these eager ones steal in and
cover the looking.
Try again.
Look without picking it up.
Don't get caught up with what shows up.
What shows itself.
Cement path along a lake. A tree. Water. A photo.
An image.
A reflection fleeting in the looking mind.
Receive the given without measure without weighing.
Don't pick it up.
Only the imaginary self can pick it up and measure it.
Insubstantial things lead to little sufferings and big sufferings.
All forms, feelings, perceptions, impulses and
consciousness are suffering ghosts.
Counting on them leads to little misery and big misery.
It starts with a sense door opening.
The ghosts rush in.
Look for the deathless, the eternal with
"no desk pounding" certitude.
Relinquish the ghosts that please and displease.
"By not quite accepting, because they do not please us,
things that are so, we spend our entire lives making
meaningless gestures somewhere next door to reality." Nan Shin
