Category: Spiritualibus

I remember you now
in a moment present
though gone far away
you’re here in my heart
maybe you reincarnated
somewhere else already
found our renewed family
within this eternal current
that begins and ends all
still carrying forward
when we are gone
leaving the heart
one for another
always next steps
to let go what was
and embrace what is
open to whatever comes
learning how we all shape
what we are contributing
ever more consciously
where we go and don’t
challenging humanity
what appears as self
like late snow in spring
I treasure you in my heart
in this very present moment.

“Hearts dance and remember” — all in one in all

Remember what Gotama told Vacchagotta and the bhikkhus (monks)

“To the extent that you may wish: ‘May I, with the divine ear.., which is purified and surpasses the human, hear both kinds of sounds, the divine and the human, those that are far as well as near’ — you will attain the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis.

“To the extent that you may wish: ‘May I, with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, see beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate… and may I understand how beings pass on according to their actions’ — you will attain the ability to witness any aspect therein, there being a suitable basis.

You will be “realizing for [your]self with direct knowledge, here and now” that: “Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming to any state of being.”

“Here [you] develop the mindfulness enlightenment factor, which is supported by seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, and ripens in relinquishment. [You] develop the investigation-of-states enlightenment factor. . . the energy enlightenment factor. . . the rapture enlightenment factor. . . the tranquility enlightenment factor. . . the concentration enlightenment factor. . . the equanimity enlightenment factor, which is supported by seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, and ripens in relinquishment.

“[These] seven enlightenment factors, developed and cultivated, fulfill true knowledge and deliverance.”

— Majjhima Nikāya — the middle length discourses of the Buddha, translated from Pali by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi — Mahāvacchagotta Sutta, 73.20, .23, and .26, pp. 600-601 and Ānāpānasati Sutta, 118.42 and .43, p. 948

Remember before you were small you were big?

May our hearts dance and remain sound and wholesome!

WAY AND VIRTUE:

Reliable words are not pretty;
pretty words are not reliable.

Insights are not learned;
learning does not produce insights.

What is good does not need pretty words;
pretty words are no good.

Good is not excessive;
excess is no good.

The wise doesn’t accumulate things;
he gives to people, having already more himself.

The spirit of heaven is beneficial, it causes no harm;
the wise way for people is to act without striving.

— Lao Zi, Daodejing 道德经, #81 — inspired by study group with Elena Camesi Janke

“Welcome to the moment” — remembering the future

Way and virtue before dropping the leaves

May we all shine in our splendid colors!

Reality theater
or theater reality
what’s the difference
is there a difference
one may be known
the other less so
as plain delusion
or appearances
but then we are
a reality that is
here and now
thus come
and gone
always present
preferably conscious
with the divine
heart all real
awareness
of the choice
in total freedom
in a passing show
throughout worlds
of mind and matter
graced with insights
what’s most essential
in our loving heart.

“Soundscape Guggisberg” — from A Symphony of life and love

Reality theater — illusion and conscious yearning

“We live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality; we are that reality. When we understand this, we see that we are nothing; and being nothing, we are everything.”

— 1st Kalu Rinpoche quoted by Joseph Goldstein — public talk in Bern, Switzerland, Aug. 2025

“To define the most important thing is the most important thing. It is the first step. Until you do, your life does not even belong to you.”

“We come to spiritual practice because the deeper reality is already arising, and the first way it arises into our consciousness is as the spiritual drive itself and as the yearning. Yearning may not be the fruition of enlightenment, it may not be the recognition of enlightenment, but it is the arising of it. If it was not beginning to arise into consciousness, we would not have any yearning at all, and we would not care.”

— Adyashanti, The most important thing — discovering truth at the heart of life, pp. 8 and 40

Reality in nature’s theater on the forest stage

May we all find and nurture the divine spark in our heart!

Less is more
conditionally
a small state
arms around
to embrace
no weapons
avoiding thus
back and forth
listen and see
can be enough
for three or ten
a teacher asked
only one for three
all the others ten
they wished for
more not less
but turns out
three horses
ten guinea pigs
as this happened
so very long ago
still a small child
now all grown
rather old
at long last
less is more.

(Inspired by Lao Zi, Daodejing, #80, and a 2nd grade school memory)

“Future memory past now” — neither minor nor major

Looking to dismiss ego delusion?

“What is inside is me,
What is outside is mine —
When these thoughts end . . .
Freedom dawns.”

— Nāgārjuna, Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, 18.4 / Stephen Batchelor, Verses from the Center, p. 114

“Destroy ‘the ego’, hound it, beat it, snub it, tell it where to get off?
Great fun, no doubt, but where is it? Must you not find it first?
Isn’t there a word about catching your goose before you can cook it?
The great difficulty here is that there isn’t one.”

— Wei Wu Wei, Posthumous Pieces, p. 48

“The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me,
Until only the mountain remains.”

— Li Po, translated by Sam Hill, Crossing the Yellow River: Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese

When and where is less becoming more?

万事如意 / wànshì rúyì — May all your wishes come true!

Who owns what,
or what owns who?

Do we own our bodies,
or do our bodies own us?

Do we own our feelings,
our memories and thoughts,
or do they own us?

Can we just observe
proprietary notions
as two-way relations?

What I own, owns me.

To dwell in any body,
it needs proper care,
feeding, cleaning, and more.

Also feelings and thoughts
are nurtured and tended
by attention for or against.

Can observing be neutral,
and who or what observes
all the ownership illusions
in our given present lives?

What balances and frees
from owning back and forth
into awakened awareness?

Now, beware of your answers,
lest they may own you!

“Happy gnomes and elves” — a fairy tail dance

Owning “I, me, mine” plus past and future

“As we look, we find that all the beguiling narratives are basically about ‘me’: what I like, what I don’t like, what I want, what I fear, what I hate, what I believe, what I’m like. These I-thoughts are frequent and compelling — just try giving them up for two minutes. We sense that they are being thrown up by some strong motive force like a turbocharged engine. What is behind all this power? It is the belief in a self, in the story of ‘I, me, mine’ that we tell ourselves over and over. We do this to convince ourselves that we are real in the way we imagine ourselves to be. But this self is a fiction. There isn’t actually an entity that corresponds to this fabrication.

To convince ourselves that the imagined self is real, we tell the I-story continuously, using past and future, likes and dislikes, hates and loves, views and beliefs, engaging our deepest emotions to keep us turning on this hamster wheel. It’s not a pleasurable or satisfying habit.”

Memory, past, future, and the present

“We have this peculiar faculty called memory. Memory retains and stores up fragments of what consciousness experiences; then we build all kinds of concepts around these fragments. We call that the ‘past’ and believe that it’s real. Extrapolating from some selective elements of memory, we imagine that certain things will happen at some other time. We call that the ‘future’, and we believe that it’s real. But past and future are only concepts. They don’t truly exist. The past is gone and the future hasn’t arrived. What is real is the present moment. Body and consciousness are real, and so are thoughts and feelings. [They] are real and present. But there is nowhere behind us called the ‘past’ and nowhere in front called the ‘future’. When we remember something from the past or imagine something in the future, in either case it is a thought in the present moment.”

— Guy Armstrong, Emptiness: a practical guide for meditators, pp. 61 and 78-79

Nature, beauty, life, and love will not be owned nor own!

May we all rest in peace! Why wait till we’re dead?

(inspired by Joseph Goldstein — public talk in Bern, Switzerland — August 2025)