Autumn – Petersham, Massachusetts

Enlightened nature

accessible to all
(recently published)

So what are we waiting for? One may ask how do I reach this state of mindfulness? Overcoming recent troublesome and disturbing personal circumstances, returning to the source of "what is accessible to all," can only report, in the middle of a night filled with pain, making my way through the rapids, finding calm waters, stillness, and sleep. A small  miracle.

  Seeking to “experience the realm of mind and consciousness in its natural, spontaneous state,” is to discover the implicit reality—that the “buddha (enlightened) nature” exists within each of us and is accessible to all, and that our ultimate goal always will be to attain enlightenment in this lifetime; to serve others with compassionate hearts, mindful that, in reality, the nature of all existence is not in opposing forms, but like space.

  “This guy’s really off his rocker,” you say? – out of touch with reality because our world today is fraught with “opposing forms,” contentions, ignorance, stupidity. Assuredly it  will take an eternity for the ignorant, the “stupid and those of little with” to dig their way out of the morass to discover that paths to enlightened mindfulness do indeed exist and are accessible—eternally, as long as there is life on this planet. The driving force of energy which causes everything to live is present, always, and all living beings are one substance with it.

  When Shakyamuni Buddha, who lived in this world, not apart from it, beheld men and women suffering, by his power of wisdom, “knowing the natures and inclinations of creatures,” at first tactfully proclaimed the laws which would cause all to obtain gladness.” Observing with the eyes of wisdom, “the creatures in the six states of existence, poor and without happiness and wisdom on the dangerous path of mortality, in continuous unending misery, firmly fettered by the five desires like the yak caring for its tail, smothered by greed and infatuation, blinded and seeing nothing, seeking not the Buddha’s wisdom,  and the Law to end suffering, but deeply fall into heresies, and seek by suffering to be rid of suffering,” he does not condemn, nor judge. Rather, he proclaims, “for the sake of all these creatures, my heart is stirred with great pity,” and proceeds to seek means and methods to motivate them to travel the path leading to happiness, and ultimately Perfect Enlightenment.

  The Buddha and his teachings found in the sutras, (the above from chapter 2, “Tactfulness”) are the original source of all teachings leading to celebrating life with compassion, reaching enlightenment—all evolve from the matrix of the appearing, historical Shakyamuni’s teachings during his lifetime, and resonate today with other teachings, whether scientific or metaphysical. The ultimate value of gaining mindfulness of his teachings will be seen within the ebb and flow of our lives—most surprisingly in our participating, loving, lighting up the hopes and dreams of others; realizing intuitively a sense of our miraculous inter-connection with others.

  [written in 2012] Today, negotiating crowded city streets and highways in my faithful Buick Skyhawk, vintage 1984, I no longer contest, allowing others to do their thing; a sense of inner peace, amused by those who contend, no longer engaging in the competition to “get there first.”

  I’m already there—traveling “lost,” arriving here and now.

  We don’t need to be anywhere – from the Diamond Sutra: “Subhuti, first among those who abides in peace, free from strife and passion, does not abide anywhere, that is why he is called one who abides in peace.”

  A man suddenly appears to help me  fix a flat tire. A waitress remembers my name. I maneuver the shopping cart among the crowd, evoking shared laughter when I come close to plowing down an old lady and say, “We need traffic lights, I think.” The mundane . . . the passion . . . the profound. “A jealous one raises the mind of joy.” Enlightened awareness becomes accessible.