A dream of life
starts to recognize
the unicorn at last
with one’s bare eye
big and small dogs
below and above
wondering along
how much crisis
is finally needed
to trigger change
that is substantial
not just cosmetic
directed at others
but a straight look
into karmic mirrors
detecting harmony
beyond all delusion
like the sun shining
high above all clouds
that’s always present
in every loving heart
admitting triple love
gives some celibacy
whatever that means
just for oneself alone
woven tight together
like strands in a cloth
for protective warmth
through the cold night
till the sun rises again
hiding stars from view
for more dreams of life.
“Dream projections” — let them fly high
Awareness embraces the dream of life
“All objects of the phenomenal world appear and disappear in the big empty space of awareness or, we could say, in the empty space of mind — what Suzuki Roshi called ‘big mind’. When we see in this way, there is a greater sense of spaciousness and ease because we are not fixated on or grasping after objects. But there is still a focus for attention, a thing to come back to again and again, which is the awareness itself. So we can also call this practice the awareness of awareness. It is subtle; awareness is not quite locatable. It is not an object that can be taken hold of; awareness is what holds objects. Your right hand can hold a stick, but it can’t hold itself. As Wei Wu Wei put it, ‘What we are looking for is what is looking.’
“Ajahn Sumedho likened it to our eyes:
Just like the question ‘Can you see your own eyes?’ Nobody can see their own eyes. I can see your eyes but I can’t see my eyes. I’m sitting right here, I’ve got two eyes and I can’t see them. But you can see my eyes. Looking in a mirror I can see a reflection, but that’s not my eyes, it’s a reflection of my eyes. But there’s no need for me to see my eyes because I can see! …
“Awareness can’t be grasped, but we know it’s there. As Ajahn Chah said, ‘You’re riding on a horse and asking Where’s the horse?’ Don’t search too hard. We know awareness by its functioning, its activity of revealing sense objects. If you lose touch with it, just ask, ‘Am I aware right now?’ Then stay with whatever you notice about the awareness. Over time, as this practice becomes more familiar, it will be easier to notice awareness itself.
“Awareness is not a thing that can be taken hold of — and we have to ask if it is in fact a thing at all. We might rather say that awareness is the activity of knowing what arises — not a noun but a verb. Awareness is the knowing. It is a functioning: a revealing, an illuminating of what appears.”
— Guy Armstrong, Emptiness: a practical guide for meditators, p. 213-214
First rays of an awakening sun on triple love
