“It Don’t Pay to Eat Too Much on an Empty Stomach”

“It Don’t Pay to Eat Too Much on an Empty Stomach”

It don’t pay to eat too much 

On an empty stomach.

No, nor to slumber too long 

When you’ve been without sleep.

And how about the one that advises

Not drinking too much 

When you’ve been without water for a while

And you’re really thirsty?

Old wives’ tales?

Or good advice?

Hmmm.

With zen,

Where with most things 

Moderation is the gentle goal,

Less is more.

So it’s probably good advice.

By the way.

If it don’t pay to eat too much 

On an empty stomach,

Does it pay to think too much

With an empty mind?

“Evil Zen?”

See no evil,

Hear no evil,

Speak no evil.

Wonderful idea!

But wait a minute…

If that’s how you are,

With no evil to speak, see, or hear,

(And let us not forget our other senses,

For the touching and smelling and tasting of evil),

Then you must be dead.

Because evil, 

Which in this imperfect world

We call suffering,

Is all around us all the time,

And cannot be avoided

At any cost.

From the tiniest ant to the mighty elephant,

And every other living thing as well,

(Including and especially humans),

We all must suffer.

Thank goodness for zen!

A way to find a way

To begin to understand 

The true state of things,

And with this understanding

Make adjustments

To your thinking

In order to live 

A happier life.

Another wonderful idea!

After all,

Doesn’t Happiness

Destroy Evil?

Or at least make it wish

That it hadn’t gotten

Out of bed that morning?

So don’t worry about evil.

Who cares what it smells like?

Or anything else about it!

Get over it.

You’ve got bigger fish to fry.

Learn to unattach yourself 

From the things around you,

And then when you’ve learned that,

Unattach yourself 

From yourself.

Remember there is an unlimited 

Amount of zen in the universe!

Enough for the Happiness

Of everybody!

Take all you need.