Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --
[25] Just take hold of the source (from The Shodoka) By Yoka Genkaku (Yongjia Xuanjue) English version by Robert Aitken
Just take hold of the source
 / Photo by Ivan_M_Granger / |
| ============ Thought for the Day: What is there ============ | Here's your Daily Music selection --  Angel Tears The Way of the Mystic (Vol 1) |
Hi Omss -
The Shodoka is a beautiful collection of enlightenment and wisdom poems. Although it is known primarily in the West through the influence of Japanese Zen practice, it actually is a seventh century Chinese composition. In Japanese, it is known as the Shodoka, composed by Yoka Genkaku; in Chinese, it is called the Cheng Tao Ko, by Yongjia Xuanjue.
--
Just take hold of the source
And never mind the branches.
I love those lines! They express the essentialism of Zen so well. We are reminded not to dally about with the endless manifestations of the mind and its experiences -- even 'spiritual' experiences.
We are given the image of a tree or, at least, the image is hinted at with the mention of branches. Picture a tree for a moment, an ancient tree with a strong trunk. This is the tree of pure awareness. And from that trunk emerges countless branches, the branches of mind and experience. The trunk is the central structure, the source, the foundation of reality, while the branches are the many phenomena that emerge. Each branch is the perception of an experience, an object, a sensation, an encounter, an event. Most people hover at the outer reaches of the tree, and they only ever know the touch of its branches. Its easy to spend entire lifetimes there fascinated by the play of light upon the leaves, endlessly seeking the sweet fruit that grows there, imagining each branch to be its own separate, unrelated experience. And there is always one more branch to explore. There is always one more experience to be had.
But if we really want to know the nature of this tree that is everything to us, all of our reality, then we must find a sturdy branch and trace its route to the central trunk. We follow the pathways of the mind to the core of still awareness from which mind emerges. Only then do we see what it is that the branches express. Only then do we understand the nature of experiences, mind, and awareness. Only then do we know ourselves and our true relationship to the world we experience.
When Yoka Genkaku proclaims that "my gain is the gain of everyone endlessly," he is reaffirming what mystics all over the world have asserted, that, in that moment of pure awareness, all conflicts, all opposites, all disharmonies, even past and future, are fully resolved within the individual. For those who, through compassion, wish to bring healing to the world, the way to do this is to first bring the world to resolution within oneself, and then all actions naturally lead toward establishing that truth externally. Or, more accurately, all of the world is found to be within oneself. When the world is resolved within, the mind ceases to project false images of the world that appear to be external to the individual. Resolving the world within, brings "gain" to oneself and automatically brings "gain" to everyone eternally since everything emanates from that single point of resolution and there is nothing truly external.
And my gain is the gain of everyone endlessly.
(PS- That photo of the boy in the tree... that's me in the early 1970s.)
Ivan
Share Your Thoughts on today's poem or my commentary...
Support the Poetry Chaikhana |
| Donations to the Poetry Chaikhana in any amount are always welcome. Thank you! |  Click here | You can also support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you! | |
| A small amount each month makes a big difference. Become a voluntary Subscriber for just $2/mo. | |||
| Help the Poetry Chaikhana reach more people. Become a Supporter for just $10/mo. |
|
Poetry Chaikhana Home Poetry Chaikhana |
Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.
============
Plain Text: If you have any difficulty reading this HTML formatted email, please let me know and I can send you plain text emails instead.
Friday Only: If you want to receive only one poem email each week, reply to this email and change the Subject to "Friday Only".
Canceling: If you wish to stop receiving this Daily Poem email from the Poetry Chaikhana, simply reply to this email and change the Subject to "Cancel".
No comments:
Post a Comment