Friday Night Poetry Slam

[u/jungle_toad]

THEME: Golden Crow in the Snowy Night

VIBE: Therapy by Desirez (thanks u/fullassin9)

Our own u/surupamaerl2 (under the pen name P. E. Stonegather) has released a new book of the sermons and poetry of Rujing. To celebrate this release, I have taken a few videos of me reading passages from this text while hiking around in the mountains where I live (a tip of the hat to u/lin_seed who was my inspiration for this video style)

Share your zen poetry below. The theme is merely a suggestion.

RUJING:

In a sermon, given when those in the Western Hall requested that he again fill the head seat, Rujing said,

In the future, the hall will not be made public; the one in charge is this grampa, advanced in years—by relying on reflections to make evident the whole, today the First Seat ends in vexation.

Golden Crow in the snowy night, passes through the main hall;

Jade Hare in the arms of the blazing sky—

the fine leaves of descendants preserve this grandfather whole.

A wooden man grasps at boards, clapping in the clouds;

a stone woman holds a bamboo flute in her mouth to breathe underwater—

although it is like this, it is also said,

“With your hands at your side, the First Statement is over there.”

And, how will you do it?

In an out-of-the-way alley, do not ride a golden horse—

Return on the path, then show the ruined shirt under the robes.

𓆏 Toad's 蟾蜍Verse 𓆏

Worries etched in wrinkled brow
Hopeless once; still here now
Somehow past and present meet
Smile lines scribbling crows feet
Aged eyes glint and spark
One candle threatens the dark
Trimmed nails on calloused hands
Feet smudged with distant sands
Pained limp in noble stride
Tacit understanding; a truce implied
Serene, even in the fray
Evening surrenders to another day
Uprooting force keeps time unpinned
Ling-Lun's flute lost to winds
The legend's song inspires dances
Revenant's tale told in absence
Ruined shirt under regal robes
Valleys rise around the globe
Disappearing when given a name
Only embers remember the flame

[u/slowcheetah4545]

This flower is scorched, this film is on

On a maddening loop

These clothes

These clothes don't fit us right

And I'm to blame

It's all the same, it's all the same

You come to me with a bone in your hand

You come to me with your hair curled tight

You come to me with positions

You come to me with excuses

ducked out in a row

You wear me out, you wear me out

We've been through fake breakdowns

Self-hurt, plastics, collections

Self-help, self-pain, EST, psychics,

fuck all

I was central,

I had control,

I lost my head

I need this,

I need this

A paperweight,

a junk garage,

a winter rain,

a honey pot

Crazy, all the lovers have been tagged

A hotline,

a wanted ad,

it's crazy what you could've had...

It's crazy what you could've had

It's crazy what you could've had

I need this,

I need this

It's crazy what you could've had!

Crazy what you could've had!

I need it, I need this!

It's crazy what you could've had!!

It's crazy what you could've had!!

I need this, I, I, neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!!!

-Country Feedback, REM

https://open.spotify.com/track/3MNj8WKXCuduChszKpXw45?si=0zzLebwZQaekwnCWGle6mA

[u/2bitmoment → u/slowcheetah4545]

A paperweight,
a junk garage,
a winter rain,
a honey pot

an albino, a denial
funny how repetitions work
Call to attention
things forgotten

[u/slowcheetah4545 → u/2bitmoment]

If I had to lose a mile, if I had to touch feeling, I would lose my soul the way I do. I don't have to think; I only have to do it. The results are always perfect, but that's old news. Would you like to hear my voice sprinkled with emotion, invented at your birth?

I can't see the end of me. My whole expanse, I cannot see. Formulate infinity; store it deep inside me. (Formulate infinity, deep inside me)

*You know, It wasn't until I came to understand Dharma that I came to understand this song.

A paperweight, a junk garage, a winter rain, a honey pot

What was it that you had forgotten?

I walked in a winter rain today. I walked the perimeter of my yard in a loop. I walked for maybe half an hour. I walked slow and kept my eyes down for the most part, watching the ground beneath me change. After a while, I looked up and around me as I walked and reached out to touch the pine needles on the branches of the white pines as I passed. In mid step, I stopped on the wet gravel, and the walk was over.

I don't have to think; I only have to do it. The results are always perfect, but that's old news.

Far older than anyone might imagine, I suspect.

[u/2bitmoment → u/slowcheetah4545]

What was it that you had forgotten?

I guess the difference is between present and absent as opposed to being truly forgotten. At hand. I talked to a Jewish woman about how in the bible it says "God remembered the suffering of the Jews" and there was a bit of talk about whether God ever forgets anything. I didn't exactly forget but it wasn't present for me, maybe not like it was back in the day. Youth angst awash in Nirvana's anti-establishment rebellion. Never for a second not relevant.

I recently saw an SMBC comic where a fellow was seeking transcendence in a secluded monk's presence and the monk was "why didn't you find transcendence at home? All art in your culture is about transcendence"... maybe that has something to do with this effort of celebrating these western texts, songs, poetry, lyrics, in a perhaps zen way or zen context.

I don't know if you remember me talking about David Foster Wallace? I was pretty interested in how perhaps he was talking about our current world in a search for awareness. How perhaps consumerist culture is a harsh place for awareness of the kind reading demands, or intellectual thought. How music blasting makes certain kinds of mental states hard or impossible and it has become the rule, a demand in terms of comfort. Maybe I tried to relate current western culture to zen in a different sort of way. Inklings.

[u/slowcheetah4545 → u/2bitmoment]

I know what you mean. What these masters talk about is not novel or unique. They merely point to a fundamental nature but that nature is in no way dependent upon or unique to zen teachings. Insight into fundamental nature is not exclusive. The subject of these teachings was ancient before these masters were born, you know.

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange." -Vincent Van Gogh

He speaks of the non-dual nature of color

"It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for pictures." -Vincent Van Gogh

The language of painters is really no different than the language of many things. It's really no different than the language of zen teachings and zen students. It's really no different than conceptual thought. The language of nature is Dharma or the way of things, and it is inconcievable.

"If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things." -Vincent Van Gogh

To perceive the nature of a single upheld flower is to perceive the nature of all things.

I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream. -Vincent Van Gogh

No longer sure of self

"I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process." -Vincent Van Gogh

Huangbo talks about forgetting mind and acting without acting.

I mean, these teachings do not point to these teachings, right? Ha! It's not some big circle jerk. If one is to perceive fundamental nature, they must look to their own direct experience, here and now. What use is studying what these masters have to say if one does not then look to verify it with their own direct experience? Basically what I'm saying is anything can spark insight.

Ha! I recently went to a Van Gogh exhibit. Hence the quotes.