Pure Mountain Tao

Our greatest enemy is not another human being. It is what comes from within. It is through our own self that we hear the sounds of anger and hatred that poison our thoughts. Some think this is due to the bad karma we built up as the origin of this suffering, but regardless of where it came from, we must learn to do battle with such images and sounds. The greatest battlefield that we face is the fought within the human heart.

———

The egret’s feathers

Catching the sunlight

Of the early morning

———

Ode to a Slacker

I have a folding chair

On the patio of my apartment

Next to some plastic plants

That I do not have to water

It is on the third floor

I like to get up early

And brew some coffee

That is stronger than my ambition

Half a teaspoon will do

I take a book and go out on the porch

And drown myself in the sunshine

Occasionally

I will look up from my reading

At the busy road that passes by my world

I see all the people

Who are being beaten to death by the rapids

The ones rushing over the falls

While I stand on the banks and watch

I smile in bemusement

Now excuse me while I rush

Into the kitchen

For another cup of coffee

–Anna S.