I’d like to invite you to sit down
right now,
for just one minute,
and not entertain one thought.
Can you do that?
Can you feel the coolness
that wafts through your entire
Presence
when you stop thinking?
Not “stop … and”
not “stop … then”
not “stop … so that”
but just stop.
Stop.
Everything you’ve ever longed for
is waiting for you
in that pause.
The cogs and gears of the “me project”
grind to a halt.
The engineers maintaining the scaffolding of the self
take a smoko.
The universe itself sighs,
so gladdened to see an earth angel
hold the claws of thought apart
for even one minute.
And every cell in your always-fully-awake body
lights up with a smile: “Now, at last,
we can bow before our own experience
and dance our destiny!”
You can do it.
It’ll only take a minute.
One thought-free minute equals one minute of full wideawakeness
or, one minute of intimacy with what the Buddha knew.
(Did you know that?)
You just need to want to meet the Truth of your life
more than you want to entertain a thought about it.
[entertain: v.t. Maintain (correspondence, discourse) Concise Oxford Dictionary]
Calligraphy by Jakusho Kwang, Roshi
echoes from emptiness 
LOVE it!!
Gladness! Thanks for commenting.
Smiling from the gap…
Love this …
“You just need to want to meet the Truth of your life
more than you want to entertain a thought about it.”
Slam! There’s the stop!
Big loves Mx
Spot on dear M! ❤
Paraphrasing that great Zen master, Groucho:
“Outside of the self, there is no happiness to be found.
Inside of the self, it’s too dark to find anything.”
😉
Like. Like. Like.
Thank you dear amazing johnnycrabcakes: “blind squirrel” photographer and perpetual poet.
⭐
*blush*
Those damn “me projects”! We all have one don’t we? Some are bigger than others of course but we carefully carry them around everywhere we go, until, as you say, we just stop for a minute and they fall off. The trick is to leave them where they lie…..
Hehe – it would seem we have more than one John, and a host we aren’t even conscious of. They are tenacious. But the more minutes spent in that thought-free territory, the more they tend to deflate. I regard them kindly these days, putting them to work as needed but never for one second believing their petition.
The “me projects” weave a fragile firmament draped over the chaos and unpredictability of our life, ever toiling to bring it to order and safety. Quite heroic really, apart from the refusal to accept redundancy…
Thanks for your words; I do appreciate your company here. 🙂
“The claws of thought”. . . beautifully put!
How it feels, eh? Thanks for commenting @mrsdaffodil – and also for introducing me to your beautiful blog. Waving to you from Queensland… !
🙂
Utter, utter, utter!
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
wondrous, miriam louisa~!
So grateful for your company in this wondrousness dear Rashani! ❤
A sweet and wise reflection. I especially like the image of holding apart the claws of thought. Thought can feel just like that – fierce in its grip — however circular and pointless it often is. Thank you.
Cate – your presence here, and your refections are so appreciated. Thank you. We are in tandem on this adventure into Truth…
The thing about thought’s claws is that they only feel so cramping when we give them authority. Once the play of thinking is understood, there are no claws. In their place, a host of happy servants-on-standby. How blessed!
In love, always. ❤
Excellent, Dear Miriam!
Reminds me of this:
“Zazen is itself Enlightenment, one minute of sitting, one minute of being Buddha.”
~Dogen Zenji
Darned Dogen-san – beat me to the post!
Bob. I appreciate you so much. You shine. Thank you. ❤
😉 ❤
thank you for the invitation
… and thank you Pauline, for visiting and leaving a trace! I’m delighted to have your company and hope you’ll return to see what emptiness might cook up next (zongzi maybe?) … 🙂
Too bereft of thoughts to say anything
But certainly amongst the best ways to spend a minute
Thank you for the music
Thank you for spending a minute dear Ananda.
From one empty mind to another – ❤