The Zen master said, “Silence your mind.”
To attain peace it may take a lifetime.
Go with the flow; avoid thought debris
And don’t operate heavy machinery.
The Zen master said, “Open your heart,”
Not quite sure how, but I will do my part.
Materialism’s worry and money distraction
May hinder my peace and satisfaction.
The Zen master said, “Seek without seeking.”
And one hand sound clapping is a manner of speaking.
Happiness like a butterfly on one’s shoulder lands
Cannot be grabbed or clung-to with either of one’s hands.
The Zen master said, “Do not seek outside.”
I will try not to try to go in to abide.
Outside the world is a profusion of illusions
One can’t help but get confused by confusions.
The Zen master said, “Without the
slightest sense of the holy or the ordinary.”
Objectivity slowly leaving, leaves me feeling extraordinary.
The Zen master’s task is by hook or by crook
To snap me from myself and my gobbledygook.
Continued the master, “real truth is always there, resting peacefully.”
The source of real truth is beyond thinking too literally.
To Zen is to focus on all from the periphery
The Zen master's message is complicated simplicity.
My eyes glazed like donuts, his speech so enjoyable.
Will a silenced non-thinking mind leave me feeling employable?
On a river of quietude I escaped to a zone
Where all my lights were on, but nobody was home.
by Darrel Scott Lawlor