Awakenings

 

Life springs ahead.

Too much meditation,

not enough Dharma Action.

Time to awaken from this Dream

of Death

to enter

The Lucid Dream

 

Namasté

नमस्ते

Chazz Vincent

03/31/2020

Fish swim with the tides, in and out of the lagoon as it empties itself, receives from, and flows back into the sea.

 

 

The Ten-Thousand Things

 

 

Each Day

As I face

The Ten Thousand Things,

that would either

impede or obviate

my pursuit

of The One,

it occurs to me

that

as I move in any single

aspect or angle

in the pursuit

of The One,

if I should

merely persevere long enough,

that eventually

I will become

one with

The One.

 

 

 

Wu!

Wu-Wei

Wu-Wei-Wu.

 

 

 

Matte Kudesai

Patience Please.

 

 

 

If I should

pursue

The One,

for the rest of

what is left of

my life,

I will never

Arrive.

 

 

The deer runs

not because the dog chases it;

the dog chases the deer,

because 

the deer runs.

 

 

 

 Wu!

Wu-Wei

Wu-wei-Wu.

 

 

 

Matte Kudesai

Patience Please.

 

 

 

The more passionate

the methods used

in the course of 

any pursuit,

the more surely

that

desire

will succumb

to

confusion.

 

 

 

Wu!

Wu-Wei

Wu-wei-Wu.

 

 

 

Matte Kudesai

Patience Please.

 

 

 

Each Day

As I face

The Ten Thousand Things,

I realize

that

No matter

which way I go,

all things return to The One.

 

Some directions

will be longer

or shorter

or faster

or more secure,

but the path we choose

will determine

both our Methods

as well as our intentions

and whether we know it or not,

instead of 

seeking

the attainment of anything

somewhere in the future,

if I embrace

my present circumstances

with joyous resolve,

compassion

and Grace,

fully engaged

in the ever-present

never-present

present moment,

there will be no time for

dreadful speculation,

the result of wallowing

in fearful rumination

instead of being completely

 in the Here and Now.

 

Acceptance, rather than Denial

allows us to focus on

what our life really is, 

rather than

what we wish it was.

 

If you are unhappy now,

what makes you think

you will be happy

sometime later

in a future

that will never come?

 

 

 

Wu!

Wu-Wei

Wu-wei-Wu.

 

 

 

Matte Kudesai

Patience Please.

 

 

Thanks.

Namasté

नमस्ते

Chazz Vincent

08/29/2019

 

Return to Nothing

 

 

Knowing Nothing. Doing Nothing.

Wu-wei

 

No.

Wu!

Nothing

 

Everything associated with the Mind is subject 

to duality, 

impermanence and illusion.

 

Yes.

 

Our thinking minds

create all the suffering in the world

as they inject fear into the future

generated by ruminating about the past, 

leading us to believe

we cannot live without our minds.

 

Perhaps.

 

Our minds, like spoiled toddlers

having a tantrum in public.

 

We’ll see what we can do.

 

In loosing our minds,

the air and the water become still 

and everything becomes completely clear.

 

For a moment.

 

Everything you need, you already have.

Everything you need to know, you already know.

Everything you need to be, you already are.

 

Always.

 

The return of Nothing Special.

 

Everyday Zen.

Wu-wei wu

(One less thing to neglect.)

 

Planck time is the ever-present never-present

present moment

Between Nothingness and Eternity.

 

Everything is.

Was.

and

Will be.

Right here.

Right now.

 

 

 

 

Namasté

नमस्ते

Chazz Vincent

08/27/19

 

Never Too Late…?

Six months dancing with Death in a dream within a dream

 

 

As finite Time hangs in the balance

All too conscious

that

as The One

returns to Zero,

just how precious

the ever-present

never-present

present moment

is

was

and will be.

Recuperation.

So many hours

for

necessary thoughts,

albeit dangerous or not

seducing me

into remembering

the regrets I could not rewrite

within my history.

Facing the shame of my wrongs

done unto others

to whom I can no longer

apologize,

yet totally eclipsed

by the magnitude

of my despair

for all that I will leave

undone.

 

Hesitation

preoccupation

self-consciousness

or cowardice

are indistinguishable

after the fact,

when

The Moment

was lost.

five poems for submission: 2018

(#1)

I Can See Your House from Here

Time and Time again,

those who sought in vain

to capture my attention

were those who tried to

talk me down from off

the ledge.

 

It never worked.

It never will.

understanding not

what it is that brings me

to this lofty perch.

Observing what goes

unexamined by

those all too preoccupied

by thoughts beyond control

within lives run by

thinking constantly…

Minds chattering so loudly

they cannot hear their feelings

even if their souls should speak,

…I can see your house from here.

 

Out on this ledge

thin as Here and Now

The Music is so very loud

you cannot hear your thinking mind;

feeling is all that

you can do.

 

I did not come up here to jump,

for I am here to dance

out on this high edge.

Do not try to talk me down

from off my ledge.

Come up and join me

in my special place

where my Music never ends.

We can dance here day and night

keeping warm in Winter,

dry us after rains of Spring,

naked jaybirds if we please

tans celebrating Summer sun,

we can dance until the Fall.

Namasté

नमस्ते

Chazz Vincent

05/27/201

 

 

(#2)

Tears of Sorrow, Tears of Joy…

(I just can’t stop crying).

Ten Thousand days and nights;

the best of luck

and worst of judgement

compounding

exhilarating risks,

great moments of defeat

and success alike

all much too real,

my soul too tender

to allow

them close enough

to either wound,

or fill me up

with too much pride,

I anesthetized myself

with jaded sarcasm,

cynical perspectives

and aggressive intimidations

fueled by

unrealistic expectations

within a life so privileged

as to be blind

to the misfortune

born to others

or to

those caused to others

by my own selfish means

by which I achieved

almost everything that I desired.

 

Dead friends, dead lovers,

dead family members,

dead spouses

and dead pets alike;

broken promises,

hearts and dreams…

accolades, applause, abuse,

admiration and awards as well,

early on I realized

that if I opened up that door

of emotion…

to feel

for just the briefest

interval of Planck time,

that like Pandora’s Box

once opened,

would make no difference if

left opened wide or closed,

I would never be the same

and so began

my willing exile…

my disconnect from any emotions.

 

It would be easier to put the smoke

back into the cigarette

than to forget

what I had felt and seen

or in some cases,

even where or who I was

when I had been….

whatever it was

that I had been….

Endless rituals.

no matter whether

hero or villan,

felon, friend,

or fiend,

the method of my madness

played out

upon whatever stage

it was that I was going through…

Until the End.

 

Another ten thousand days and nights ago

(yet at the very same time)

I started down another path

that would lead me to

what was called

The Bodhisattva Way.

When what had seemed

to be parallel lines

did finally cross,

both Joy and Sorrow

Desire and Disappointment,

Lust and Despair

were everywhere,

no matter where I looked.

Devoid of blinders, filters, masks or muzzles,

the brilliance of the simplest of pleasures,

joys, or indulgences

were as blindingly, brilliantly intense

as new vision

to one who has never seen.

Ignorance, greed, and hatred

once taken for granted

as “part of doing business”

now made me gasp

as if to take my breath away.

Vices that had once been

my stock and trade

were now reviled

and regretted

when recognized in others…

as tears of shame

fall to the earth,

that bleeds

with every step I take.

 

I had lived in the camp of the enemy

and learned his methods,

but could no longer make

his ways as mine.

 

There was a time when

no matter how much I got,

nothing was ever good enough…

Now almost nothing

is plenty.

 

No longer fettered and blinded by privilege

or jaded by remorseless greed

and narcissistic self-indulgence,

the simplest of kindnesses or joys

now give me pause, as if to choke

as I am overcome

by pure and simple Compassion,

Lovingkindness

and Empathy,

once overlooked,

now the most precious

of experiences,

as Love is on the lips

of every blade of grass

that sings

to the Song of the Wind

as it blows through the trees

drowning out the voices

of all the teachers,

Bodhisattvas and Buddhas alike.

 

Tears of Joy,

Tears of Sorrow…

Are they different

or

are they the same?

 

In the ever-present

never-present,

present moment,

we ride the three-hundred

mile an hour train,

where only your mind is moving

and before thoughts,

before words,

you already know.

 

Namasté

नमस्ते

Chazz Vincent

Friday, the Thirteenth

of October, 2017

 

 

(# 3)

Just One Thought

Just One Thought

Can spoil a lifetime

of Present Moments;

One Mind,

One Thought,

One Moment

Can drown out

All the voices

of all the

Bodhisattvas,

बोधिसत्त्व

All of the

Patriarch’s,

पत्रिअर्च्ह्स्

and

All the Buddhas.

Bउद्धस्

 

It can obfuscate

all Wisdom

all Instinct

both felt and known

(rather than

postulated,

elucidated,

and pronounced)

within

a mind obsessed

with

narrations,

utterances,

labels,

and schemes

designed to seduce

your attentions

away

from

what is obvious

only

to those

who possess

Mu-Shin

unclouded by

Duality,

Fear,

or

Suffering.

 

One Thought

destroys

the Present Moment,

which neither leaves

nor arrives;

in so doing

it destroys

everything.

 

One thought,

conspicuous in its absence,

and

obvious

in its utterance;

creating something

out of nothing

when Nothing was

all that was needed

in the absence

of

a Witness

silently observing

a witness…

bearing witness to

the truths

that cannot be spoken

or comprehended

by the mind.

 

One Thought

Within

One Mind

for One

Moment 

is

all it takes

to create

All

the suffering

in all the World

in the

Here and Now

which is

all there is,

ever has been,

or will be

…forever….

 

Namaste

नमस्ते

(I bow to the divine within you.)

Chazz Vincent

02/04/2017

 

 

(# 4)

11/11

 

You have seen me many times before…

before there ever was a You and Me,

born on wings of love

like a night bird

flying low and fast;

a bird of prey,

a flash of light

on the horizon

or peeking around

into the corner of your eye.

 

I was with you

when you first kissed

that all too familiar stranger

so long ago, so far away…

dusk creeping in

as sunlight tiptoed out

through an open window,

sweat beaded on your upper lip;

a second-floor room

in Cape May,

back when you thought

me dangerous…

or at the Chrysanthemum

in Key West

on our seventy-two hour

honeymoon

where we recruited

our willing hostages.

 

Who am I?

I am I

I am You

I am We

I am everywhere

I am nothing

I am nowhere in particular

but Here and Now.

I will still be there

long after there is any You and Me

just as I am here right now.

في مكان حيث أن الكلمات لا معنى لها

(In a place where words have no meaning,)

 

All things return unto the One,

And when the One

at last returns to Zero

there will be no more suffering,

with no one left

to mourn

our passing.

 

Namasté

नमस्ते

Chazz Vincent

November 11th, 2017

 

 

(# 5)

Sayonara Tsukimono Suji No Kimi…. さようなら私の最愛の白い魔女

 

No more “I love you”…?

No more bickering.

No more ultimatums.

No more angry words.

No more expectations.

No more disappointments.

 

The look in your eyes

betrays what you cannot

bring yourself

to say…

to pull the trigger

and end the suffering

between us,

yet you’ll never respect me

unless I do

what you cannot.

 

Its one thing to love

yet quite another to be in love.

As deeply as I am wounded,

I thank you for that.

I was born

to write torch songs

and you shall be my

most cherished inspiration.

 

That’s why they call it a

CRUSH…

When you meet,

it takes your breath

away,

the same as it does

when it’s over.

Nothing else

makes me feel more alive,

or more aware…

from the first anticipation

to the last anguish

of the horse latitudes

and doldrums

that slowly

led us here.

After all,

what good is all this loneliness

without the angst of solitude?

 

Nothing awakens

our survival instincts

like the feel

of

Death’s hot breath

upon our necks

and nothing

spawns entropy, decay and oblivion

like the stench

of complacency.

 

With nowhere else to go

for either of us,

the prison we have built

of our disillusionment

is

as real as our inability

to walk away.

With no where else to go,

our love

has turned into an ocean

of poisonous disappointment

in which we drown

each day.

 

I feel compassion for

your anger,

resentments,

and sorrow,

but I can no longer

join you in them.

 

When one door closes,

another opens,

which is how it will stay…

I’ll even leave the light on…

if it is meant to be

you will thank me

for that

one day.

 

No more “I love you’s?”

Hardly…

I will love and keep you

in my heart forever,

but I refuse to always be the first one

to say the words…

It’s just too much

like shouting

down a well.

 

So kiss me goodbye.

Just pretend

I’m not here…

someone

that you don’t love at all

so you won’t have to resent

that we are both still here.

 

We have learned

to treat strangers and pets

with more kindness

than we allow each other

and it is our shared expectations

unfulfilled

that has brought about

this despair in ourselves,

who are the only ones

whom we can blame

now that I

can no longer

bring myself

to sing the songs

that only make me cry….

Sayonara Tsukimono Suji No kimi….

さようなら私の最愛の白い魔女

(Goodbye My Beloved White Witch)

 

Namasté

नमस्ते

Chazz Vincent

09/18/2016

Tears of Sorrow, Tears of Joy…(I just can’t stop crying).

Ten Thousand days and nights;

the best of luck

and worst of judgement

compounding

exhilarating risks,

great moments of defeat

and success alike

all much too real,

my soul too tender

to allow

them close enough

to either wound,

or fill me up

with too much pride,

I anesthetized myself

with jaded sarcasm,

cynical perspectives

and aggressive intimidations

fueled by

unrealistic expectations

(…and the very best of drugs)

that money could buy

within a life so privileged

as to be blind

to the misfortune

born to others

or to

those caused to others

by my own selfish means

by which I achieved

almost everything that I desired.

Dead friends, dead lovers,

dead family members,

dead spouses

and dead pets alike;

broken promises,

hearts and dreams…

accolades, applause, abuse,

admiration and awards alike,

early on I realized

that if I opened up that door

of emotion

for just the briefest

interval of Planck time,

that like Pandora’s Box

once opened,

would make no difference if

left opened wide or closed,

I would never be the same.

It would be easier to put the smoke

back in the cigarette

than to forget

what I had done and seen

or in some cases,

even where or who I was

when I had been….

whatever it was

that I had been….

Endless rituals

of stimulants,

narcotics,

and anesthetics

of every flavor and stripe

depending upon my

position on the wave

I rode

while surfing my bi-polar seas,

no matter whether

hero or villan,

felon, friend,

or fiend,

the method of my madness

played out

upon whatever stage

it was that I was going through…

Until the End.

Another ten thousand days and nights ago

(yet at the very same time)

I started down another path

that would lead me to

what was called

The Bodhisattva Way.

When what had seemed

to be parallel lines

did finally cross,

both Joy and Sorrow

Desire and Disappointment,

Lust and Despair

were everywhere,

no matter where I looked.

Devoid of blinders, filters, masks or muzzles,

the brilliance of the simplest of pleasures,

joys, or indulgences

were as blindingly, brilliantly intense

as new vision

to one who has never seen.

While the ignorance, greed, and hatred

once taken for granted

as “part of doing business”

now made me gasp

as if to take my breath away.

Vices that had once been

my stock and trade

were now reviled

and regretted

when recognized in others…

I had lived in the camp of the enemy

and learned his methods,

but could no longer make

his ways as mine.

There was a time when

no matter how much I got,

nothing was ever good enough…

Now almost nothing

is plenty.

No longer fettered and blinded by privilege

or jaded by unremorseful greed

and narcissistic self-indulgence,

the simplest of kindnesses or joys

now give me pause, as if to choke

as I am overcome

by pure and simple Compassion

and Empathy,

once overlooked,

now the most precious

of experiences,

as Love is on the lips

of every blade of grass

that sings

to the Song of the Wind

as it blows through the trees

drowning out the voices

of all the teachers,

Bodhisattvas and Buddhas alike.

Tears of Joy,

Tears of Sorrow…

Are they different

or are they the same?

In the ever-present

never-present,

present moment,

we ride the three-hundred

mile an hour train,

where only your mind is moving

and before thoughts,

before words,

you already know.

Namasté

नमस्ते

 

 

 

Chazz Vincent

Friday, the Thirteenth

of October, 2017

When Will You Stop Hurting Yourself?

 

 

 

You still don’t understand…

Happiness is a choice.

 

 

 

Stop and think about it…

Do you know anyone

who gets offended

or takes exception

to your actions or words

or interprets your thoughts

with the malice

you find in others?

Do you think it works

any better for them?

 

 

 

No wonder

you defend yourself

first

before you listen.

 

 

 

If you believed that you were worthy

of Love

You would find it easier

to believe

in the Love

others extend to you.

 

 

 

Forgive yourself first.

A generous heart

beats within you,

awaiting only

your permission

to love yourself.

 

 

You have to befriend yourself

to recognize a friend.

You cannot

reject others

to prevent

the pain of rejection.

 

 

 

Oblivion

does not prevent

Loneliness;

one must  prime the pump

with good faith

to drink from the well

of happiness.

 

 

 

If you fear heartbreak

You cannot love deeply.

If you love fearlessly

and your heart

is broken,

as it opens

and you lean into the pain,

your capacity to love

increases,

as well as your appreciation

and gratitude.

 

 

 

A broken heart re-forged

in the heat of fearless love

grows stronger still.

A tiny heart of glass,

once broken

can only cut

and leave you bleeding,

afraid to love again.

 

 

 

Just because you are afraid

to open your eyes

does not mean you are blind,

but until you choose

to open them

you will never know the difference.

 

 

 

If you do not choose

happiness

you not only hurt yourself;

you break the connection

between yourself

and the entire Universe.

 

 

 

That which diminishes

the life

of any of us

injures and limits

the lives of everyone.

 

 

 

You can either choose

to love fearlessly

and joyously

embrace the suffering

inherent

to living

your life,

or live in fear

of being hurt,

which is to say

to hurt not only yourself

but also

all those

whom you deny.

 

 

 

The choice is yours.

 

 

Namasté

नमस्ते

Chazz Vincent

07/22/2017