Some say life is marked by dukkha
Others say life IS dukkha
Rooted in misknowing, driven by craving.
Some say life is a struggle
Between vidya and avidya
Light and darkness.
Some say life is original blessing
Paradise is all there is
We are Eden’s heirs.
Some say life is a fall from Eden
Original sin from age to age
Atonement by one Man’s death.
Some say life repeats endlessly
Born only to die
Dying only to be born
Rigmarole of cyclic strife.
Some say life is maya
Or real artefacts of awareness
All is One
And I am That.
Some say life is an expression of Nature
A function of the great Dao
Ceaseless change.
Some say life is a march of progress
From primitive to postmodern
Techno-data and AI, our salvation.
All rippling waves
In the vast expanse of the sea
Rumblings in the sky
Moon in the pond.
What is the sound
Between two waves of the sea?
The sound of no hand clapping?
Quietly, empty handed
I come.
Quietly, empty handed
I go ... till nothing’s left.
All that came forth
Came quietly
Like the four seasons.
***
果亭山人江登峰
金牛年初四
空居法云外
观世得無生
阿们
