Samsara: Even the Sound So Round and Spinning Appeals.

The sages say samsara is
the suffering, sorrowful, stressful abyss—
that which is not,
and yet persists.
The falling, feeling, reacting, fleeing,
reward, repulsion, reverence, revulsion—
cycles of compulsion
which demand our consumption.
Endless longing, endless hunger,
tiny mouths,
starving eyes,
yearning desires, hot affliction,
the minds fire burning in addiction.

But in the West
Samsara is subtlety in shades and shame.
“How to have it all”
“How to do it all”
“How to gain it all”
“How to be the best”
…in just 3 easy steps.
We clench fists and jaws,
Cling to concepts and awe,
always repeating “what if…”

With wisdom accessible
and all around,
our ignorance only further unbound,
unchecked, unhitched.
Those thoughts redirected,
keep our minds subjected
to habits blind and mindless,
seeking some static bliss.

It’s not a place,
like your hell,
it’s an internal cell—
that imprisons and diminishes
contrives and refinishes,
shellacking what we’re lacking
and hardening our shells.

So might we step back
off the precipice?
To slow down for a time
and wield mind to see mind,
to touch our wisdom and find
a moment,
with no spinning,
a moment
for inner listening—
not seeking, hoping, fearing or grasping,
not wondering how long it lasts…
but just being.
Could we slow the churning
tide of mind,
and readjust the lens
for spacious, patience, learning,
back to practice and dignity,
back to our basic decency?

Relephant: 

The Worst of Samsara & The Best of Nirvana.

Author: Jacqueline Lieske

Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Harry Zapping/Deviantart