Monks boots outside a temple, Labrang Si Monastery, Xiahe, Gansu, China

Detail, Olympus OM-2, Poetry

by Patrick JenningsJan 8, 20163:36 pm

Unencumbered

Unencumbered, must I enter
Unattached
Unburdened

Burdens weigh me down
Attachments distract me
Encumbrances hold me back

Light as a feather
Clear as crystal
Quiet as a desert night

So may I enter
Beyond temple doors
The shrine of non-being

The boots of Buddhist monks
Left before entering temple
Labrang Si Monastery
Tibetan Yellow Hat sect
Xiahe
Gansu Province, The People’s Republic of China

Taken during travels, 1998

Inspired by Weight(less), today’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge

7Comment

1

Maggie C on Jan 8, 2016 at 7:17 pm
Reply

Great interpretation. Love the words and photo.

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2

lspeng1951 on Jan 8, 2016 at 8:03 pm
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Essence of living

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- 3
  
  Patrick Jennings on Jan 9, 2016 at 9:29 am
  Reply
  
  <smile> Exactly!
  
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4

Elusive Trope on Jan 15, 2016 at 9:09 am
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Quite splendid. A daily morning reminder. For me, the interpretation “beyond the temple doors” is going out into the world, shaking me from myself.

Dogen: To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away.

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- 5
  
  Patrick Jennings on Jan 17, 2016 at 12:03 pm
  Reply
  
  <smile> “Entering temple” as a metaphor for “the world is my temple”. I like that.
  
  “Myriad things” … interesting…
  
  When Laozi talks of the “ten thousand things” his talking about mindful manifestations
  
  “Heaven and earth
  begin in the unnamed:
  name’s the mother
  of the ten thousand things”
  ~ Tao te Ching (first chapter)
  Ursula K. LeGuin interpretation
  
  Stephen Mitchell puts it somewhat more simply:
  
  The tao that can be told
  is not the eternal Tao
  The name that can be named
  is not the eternal Name.
  
  The unnamable is the eternally real.
  Naming is the origin
  of all particular things.
  ~ Tao te Ching
  Stephen Mitchell interpretation
  
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  - 6
    
    Elusive Trope on Jan 18, 2016 at 1:13 pm
    Reply
    
    Performance artist Laurie Anderson in one of her shows, quoting a eastern philosopher monk: There is the thing and the word for the thing and that is one thing too many.
    
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    - 7
      
      Patrick Jennings on Jan 18, 2016 at 3:38 pm
      Reply
      
      Heh. I like that too!
      
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