Faithful Doubter

"The Liberation of Seeing the True Buddha"
       by Hui-neng

Deluded a buddha is a being
enlightened a being is a buddha

a foolish buddha is a being
a wise being is a buddha

a biased buddha is a being
an unbiased being is a buddha,

As long as your mind is biased
the buddha dwells in a being

the moment you wake up unbiased
a being becomes a buddha

Your mind contains a buddha

your buddha is the real one

if you didn't have the buddha-mind
where would you go to find a buddha?

Hui-neng

excerpted from The Platform Sutra – The Zen Teaching of Hui-neng translated by Red Pine
zen_reading1306

Dianne had an exceptionally good workout Thursday with a new therapist.  Then Friday we saw a local orthopedist who praised the surgery but found some additional damage to the hip.  This may repair itself and may not be a setback, but it sure seemed like one.  There might even be more surgery.  Dianne has very little physical energy and when her emotional energy drops she feels really helpless and hopeless.  I have not seen here yet today, but we have talked on the phone and she does seem stronger.  It is a process that must go one day at a time, possibly for many days.

I carry a torch in one hand
And a bucket of water in the other:
With these things I am going to set fire to Heaven
And put out the flames of Hell
So that voyagers to God can rip the veils
And see the real goal.


-- from Women in Sufism: A Hidden Treasure - Writings and Stories of Mystics Poets, Scholars & Saints, Edited by Camille Adams Helminski
Poetry Chaikhana | Rabia al-Basri (Rabia al- Adawiyya) - I carry a torch in one hand

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