Vol. 37. March 18, 2023
March Madness. St Patrick’s Day. Daylight Savings Time. Robins Returning. The Vernal Equinox. There’s no denying it. Spring has sprung. It’s a compelling time for poets.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson warns us from Locksley Hall, “In the Spring, a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love.”
Jimi Hendrix sings exuberantly:
People talkin’ but they just don’t know,
What’s in my heart, and why I love you so.
I love you, baby, like a miner loves gold.
Come on, sugar, let the good times roll!
Japanese haiku master Basho is a bit more tame:
“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes and the grass grows by itself.”
How can we turn these happy, green times into Buddha times?
Easy. Meditate.
Spring reminds us of the futility of fretting, the agony of anxiety.
Why be a worry wart when the world is so beautiful?
Meditation brings us to the beauty of the moment.
God made time, but Man made haste.
Zen master Hakuin (1686-1769) would advise us to slow down and listen to the sound of one hand clapping.
When we step outside the relentless pounding of our thoughts, then we hear the sound of One Hand.
Without hearing this wondrous, unborn, deathless sound, life is still worth living, but it never rings true.
We use words to be free of words, until we arrive at the Wordless.
We use thoughts to be free of thoughts, until we arrive at No-Thought.
We use the self to be free of the self, until we arrive at No-Self.
If we don’t understand in this manner, and go on sleepwalking, we make matters worse for ourselves. Moreover, we slander the Buddha. This is not practice.
To not abide in conceptual reasoning, to let the world be, as it is, this is true practice.
Enlightenment is not something separate from meditation. It is meditation!
Simply put, to meditate is to be a Buddha.
This spring, to hear the sound of One Hand, listen to the happy chuckle of a robin.
And when we hear it, then we too can let the good times — the Buddha times — roll.
The Buddha Times 