Tag: Buddhism

Poetry by Patrick JenningsOct 4, 202310:40 pm

The Straight Path

The master told her students
This is the path to enlightenment

“But it is so straight”, one replied

True, said the master

“I expected the path to be difficult!”

The straight path is difficult

“How can it be?
There are no mountain passes to find!
No intersections or forks to choose from!
No sharp curves to negotiate!”

Many students nodded their agreement

The master shook her head

The straight path is difficult because
You want to climb mountains
You expect there to be many paths to choose from
You believe there should be sharp changes in direction

One student had sat quietly through all this
Listening while looking straight down the long path
As far as she could see
Finally, she spoke

“Walking the straight path is impossible
For one who seeks insight
From every roadside attraction”

The master smiled
I am your student!

Poetry by Patrick JenningsJul 26, 20225:30 pm

This Golden Touch, Buddha Dispelling Mara, Wat Shri Chum, Sukhothai, Thailand

Enlightening Moments

Every now and again
Quite often, to be honest
It’s important to just stop
Interrupt the flow
Of negativity
And touch Earth
Literally and figuratively
Grounding

Being grounded
Is of itself no map for the lost
But if my feet aren’t on the ground
Then no map can guide me
Nor can I find my way

Poetry by Patrick JenningsJun 25, 20223:27 pm

Sunset Descent

In a moment between breaths

Clear my lungs
Clear my mind
Clear my heart

In this realm
Of sunset otherness
The heavy sigh of engines
In smooth air
As a world of cares and worries
Slides by far below

Soon enough to be rejoined

I take another breath
Feel the gentle decline
Back to Earth

Take another breath
Close my eyes
Imagine myself
In flight forever
Concerns and attachments
All suffering
Spread across the surface
Of a small globe
Above which I can choose to float

So when I choose again
To walk the Earth
I may appreciate both

Its suffering and joy
Its love and discontent
Its beauty and ugliness
Its hardship and kindness

With another breath
Empty my lungs
Empty my heart
Empty my mind
Of attachment
To one state or another

For it is the attachment
To a state of being
Which creates the suffering
Not the state of being

“Cabin attendants prepare for arrival”

Poetry by Patrick JenningsJun 4, 20205:25 pm

Alcoves, El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, Valencia, Spain

Breathing the Moment

In an alcove of my mind
Tucked away from memories and desires
I find this moment
Of nothing but breath
The sensation of breathing
Awareness of the necessity
Of nothing but breathing

Breathe in this moment
Breathe out the past
Breathe in this moment
Breathe out the future
Breathe in this moment

Every inhaled breath
Overflows the alcove
Expands into every aspect of mind

Every exhaled breath
Empties the mind
Allowing the moment to flow into it

I breathe
Until all that I am
Is this single moment

Poetry by Patrick JenningsApr 30, 20208:48 pm

Called Home

I was taught
All glories
Soon enough
Will pass

Until I
Understood
Everything
Is glory

Poetry by Patrick JenningsJun 14, 201910:26 pm

I Walk in Rainbow Slippers, Window Graphic, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

I Walk on Rainbow Splinters

Some people think they know me
But I know they cannot know me
Can’t see my misfortune
Guess they don’ wanna know me

I am just a pilgrim
Saffron shows my devotion
Ain’t afraid of no hard road
Fill my heart with passion

Walk thru the fire
Fly thru the fear
See the signs along the path
Though the end remains unclear

Walk in mindful silence
See what breath can do
Walk on rainbow splinters
Leave behind gurus

Seek it, you will find it, seek, seek
Walk on rainbow splinters

‘Til I Wake Up ,’Til I Wake Up, ‘Til I Wake Up ,’Til I Wake Up

I breathe in the light
Exhale the darkness
Pride begins to fade
And I forget the malice

Balance light and dark
Rising from the gutter
Melt my pain like butter
And my heart begins to flutter

Seek it, you will find it, seek, seek
Walk on rainbow splinters
Seek it, you will find it, seek, seek
Walk on rainbow splinters

‘Til I Wake Up ,’Til I Wake Up, ‘Til I Wake Up ,’Til I Wake Up

Seek it, you will find it, seek, seek
Walk on rainbow splinters

Gautama Buddha
Come along on my journey
Bring your Dharmakaya, your Sambhogakaya, your Nirmanakaya
And your 500 lives
The illuminating candle
Apsaras, guiding angels
Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Bodhisattva of compassion
Master who taught the light

With you Gautama
With you Gautama

‘Til I Wake Up ,’Til I Wake Up, ‘Til I Wake Up ,’Til I Wake Up

Seek it, you will find it, seek, seek
Walk on rainbow splinters
Seek it, you will find it, seek, seek
Walk on rainbow splinters

Gautama Buddha
Shining on the river of light….

Detail by Patrick JenningsJun 9, 201911:43 pm

The Touch of... A-Maze-ing Laughter, Yue Minjun, Morton Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Being ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #191

This is a bit of a rough sketch for a chapter in a series which began with Come It Said and continued to Like a Hammer on a Drum. These stories revolve around the idea of a sort of ‘electric Buddha’ I’ve been toying with for years.

Also, my apologies for the lateness of this week’s challenge. I had to work today, and then this much prose takes much longer to pen than a poem. 😉

The situational awareness of a Series 25 is pretty hard for a mere human to wrap their head around. While these battle droids are equipped with a pair of excellent optical sensors, positioned to replicate the appearance of a predator’s stereo vision, it is their internal sensors which provide the bulk of their operational data. These include radar (both atmospheric and ground-penetrating), with full sonic and electro-magnetic spectrum arrays. Their entire body acts as an antenna, collecting sensory data in a sphere up to a one kilometer radius. The Quantum Processing Unit parses and analyzes this data in real-time, determining all relevant threats in the sensory sphere and developing ongoing action plans for eliminating them.

I talked with a droid designer once who said there was really no way of putting an upper-limit on how fast a 25 can assess and respond to every situational detail of a battle in terms I could understand. “But,” she said, “if you can imagine beating Bobby Fisher at chess one hundred million times in a nanosecond while simultaneously playing every instrument for a full orchestra’s rendition of the William Tell Overture, you’ll have an inkling.”

Detail by Patrick JenningsSep 2, 20182:20 pm

Detail ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #151

Enrapt in detail
Subtlety and nuance
Lovely and enthralling
I follow the forms
Savour the textures
Delight in the harmonics
Of ever-changing repetitions

Lost in the detail
Context and meaning
Evasive and fractured
I swirl in a sea of the minute
Fruitlessly distracted
Diverted from the present
By endless possibilities

So must I be alert
To the scale of perception
Find the balance between
A piece and the whole
A detail and its meaning
An event and its context