Are You Getting Enough Zen?

Are You Getting Enough Zen?

Excuse me.

I hate to interrupt.

I see you’re busy.

Living life sometimes takes all we’ve got, doesn’t it?

Looks like that’s the case with you right now.

You seem to be coping well.

And that’s all we can hope to do.

Cope well.

But I have a question.

Because I love you.

(Although I know that gives me no special privileges,

This love of mine.)

My question is this:

Are you getting enough zen?

Because zen is important.

I could lend you some if you’re short.

I’ve been doing well lately 

And currently I’ve got plenty.

Not bragging.

Just saying.

Wouldn’t want to piss my zen off by bragging.

You see, my zen does all the work

And I take all the credit.

Remember as you cope 

That zen works that way for you too.

For me and you both.

That’s the beauty of it!

Zen and the Big Bang

My zen rushes out,

Like everything else,

From the big bang when they say things began.

Rushing out into the universe.

A universe that is ever expanding

And has no end.

Big stuff!

My zen was there at the beginning.

And it will be there in the …

Oh, that’s right.

There is no end.

But my zen will still be there,

(Wherever that is)

Nourishing me.

For the essence of me will still exist and require nourishing.

No matter how far the universe expands.

In the meantime

It’s hard to know where I fit

Into all this rushing vastness.

I feel so small and inconsequential.

Hmmm.

So what!

As long as I’m along for the ride,

Rushing into infinity with my zen, 

What should I care?

Arthur’s Zen

When I was a lad.

It seems a thousand centuries ago,

But really it was 1969.

(Although with zen as strong as mine,

I’m not denying the possibility that it could have been a thousand centuries ago

And still be 1969.)

Anyway, when I was a lad

I began my working life

At the bottom of a road construction ditch.

I shoveled the shit that had accumulated there,

From the bottom of the ditch to the top.

Our gang boss was named Arthur.

He was feared by all,

For he could be a violent man

When he wanted something

Or thought he had been wronged.

Which seemed to be often.

It was only years later,

When the concept of zen became more clear to me,

That I realized what a great zen master Arthur was.

He was indifferent to everything.

Hot or cold didn’t matter.

Good or bad didn’t matter.

You or me didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered.

As long as he got his way.

Of course Arthur didn’t realize he was instructing me.

Giving me, for my pains,

Of which he himself caused a few

With a cuff to the ear at the bottom of a shitty ditch

All those years ago,

A lesson in life.

Yes, he didn’t realize he was giving me

An insight into the way things are.

Which is what zen is after all.

He’s been dead a long time,

Arthur has.

I wonder where he is now?

I probably never said thank you

For all the knowledge he gave me.

So from the year 2015,

Arthur,

Wherever you are, 

I thank you!

How Much Zen Is There in a Raindrop?

How Much Zen Is There in a Raindrop?

How much zen is there in a raindrop?

Asked one of my students.

(For I’ve collected a few

From time to time

As I’ve gone along.)

Well? he insisted.

How much?

He’s an insistent little so-and-so,

I’ll say that much for him.

But his zen is pure.

He avoids pornography and doesn’t drink to excess.

He has other good qualities too, of course.

Those just happened to come to mind.

“Hmmm,” I answered.

“Let me think about it.”

So I thought about it.

Every day the insistent student would come round 

And ask about the raindrop.

Come back tomorrow, I always said.

Rain or shine, every day he came.

After a few months he stopped coming every day.

Instead he came every couple of days,

Asking about the raindrop.

Then once a week came he.

Once a fortnight.

Once a month.

His visits became irregular and widely spaced in time.

Then he stopped coming altogether.

He sent me a letter.

(He’d moved out of state.)

How much raindrop zen is there?

Asked he in this letter.

I answered asking for more time to consider.

And so we exchanged letters.

We corresponded thus for a few years.

Exchanging news, sharing our lives.

He got married, started a family, bought a Prius.

Finally, the insistent student, 

After nearly five years of waiting for my answer,

Has given up.

He isn’t so insistent anymore.

His most recent letter did not mention the raindrop.

It spoke of his love for his family and his goals for the future.

How his twin daughters are growing up so quickly!

The family dog had had an operation, too.

But Fido was doing fine now.

It was a good letter,

Written from the heart,

And filled with zen.

Everything is good, he wrote, 

Adding in his final paragraph,

I can’t complain.

Aha, I thought, 

There’s the zen of it!

He was a good student, but

Boy, did he have to learn the hard way!

Live as Your Zen Commands

Life is painful.

On that we all agree

No one made it that way on purpose.

That’s just the way it is.

Full of pain and frustration.

One of the reasons it is painful

Is because we desire too much.

And our desires being unfulfilled we feel pain.

You see?

Simple.

You want it.

You cannot have it.

You are disappointed.

Disappointment hurts.

That’s the zen of it!

So give up your desires!

Don’t be a slave to your longings!

Quit wanting stuff!

We’re destroying our planet with our Narcissistic materialism anyway

And, let’s face it, our greed.

For how much crap does one person need?

When others are doing without?

Or going hungry?

I have an idea.

Maybe we could try living as our zen commands.

Living the way we know to be right.

With kindness towards ourselves and others.

And a calm understanding that sees us through.

Let’s remember that life is crazy!

So don’t worry too much about it.

Laugh at it!

Laugh good and hard. 

And try living with less consumerism.

Because it’s destroying our humanity and our environment. 

Finally, cope as best as you can

With the vicissitudes of this life.

For it won’t last forever.

I didn’t say it would be easy.

It’s not an easy thing to be a zen man.

Or a zen woman.

Millions and millions of us are attempting it.

But believe me.

It’s worth it.

When you now and then succeed.

The Friendly Lizard

Every morning lately,

When I’ve gone outside to stretch and have a look around,

On the inside of the mosquito screen 

That encloses our patio I find perched,

Silently soaking-in the day’s first sunshine,

A beautiful green lizard. 

I wondered what 

Kind of lizard it was.

So I used my smartphone 

To search the internet.

I learned that this type of lizard is called

A Green Anole.

(An anole is a chameleon.

I learned that too.)

It is Florida’s most common anole,

Said the Audubon guide.

“Anolis carolinensis,” it read.

“Slender, long snout.

Changes color in response to light, temperature, emotions.

Male has pink throat fan.

Toes padded.

Tail long, thin.

Habitat; Trees, shrubs, vines, fences, walls.

Activity; By day.”

Yes, they are common enough in Florida.

One sees them everywhere,

If one knows how to look.

But this one doesn’t seem so common.

I call him The Friendly Lizard.

You see, most lizards run away

When you try to get too close.

Even if your intentions are harmless.

(Just like humans run away 

From good intentions sometimes.)

But this little guy,

Being only ten or twelve inches long

Including his delicate tail,

Sits there unafraid!

Not camera shy at all!

With a tilt of his head 

He watched as I approached 

With my smartphone extended.

I got as close as I dared

To the brave little lizard

And took a photo or two.

Then, without anticipation he slowly turned 

And began to walk up the screen.

Walk, mind you. 

Not run.

He paused at head height,

So that he could look me in the eye as it were,

And just to let me know he wasn’t afraid,

He offered to fight me!

Fight or fornicate, one or the other!

Because, me having no throat fan,

How could he be sure

What sex I was?

He nodded his little head 

A couple of times to attract my attention,

And then proudly displayed his beautiful 

Orangey-pink throat fan.

What impertinence!

What braggadocio!

What bravery!

Watching this miracle, 

I could feel the poem I was to write 

Begin to form within me.

I even foresaw its title,

The Friendly Lizard.

I turned off my smartphone,

Lowered my arms, 

And looked at the lizard.

Eyeball to eyeball.

Mano e reptile!

With no camera between us.

Just me and him.

And as I looked at the lizard

I experienced a zen moment.

How wonderful life is! I thought.

It’s all in how you see it!

To live in wonder!

That’s the zen of it!

To live with some kind of inner peace

In a constantly changing world

That we cannot control …

… but must not fear!

And to let ourselves 

Enjoy the moments,

And therefore the years,

That make up our lives!

And in this zen moment I also thought;

Thank You!

And Thank You again

My beautiful zen garden!

For giving me beauty. 

And sometimes even enlightenment and yes!

The most wondrous of all gifts,

The ability to Love.

As I thought these 

Wonderful thoughts,

The Friendly Lizard took one last look,

Nodded his head a couple of times,

And slowly crawled away.

“See you tomorrow!” I whispered.

And the day after maybe.

And who knows? 

Maybe even the day after that.

For nobody can be sure

That he will still be here tomorrow.

Or three days from tomorrow.

But I'd be happy to meet you here in the morning,

Little Friendly Lizard,

Unless zen and circumstance

Cause either you or I …

… To take another path.