Buddha experienced what he called “enlightenment”,
And at first, thought it impossible to convey.
But entreated by old friends,
Was convinced to speak.
Moved by Compassion, he struggled,
To describe his Subjective Experience,
To point the way for others,
So their suffering, too, might end.
And so with all great teachers,
And all great teachings,
Experience, Interpretation, description,
Followed by prescriptions and proscriptions.
Heaven, Nirvana, Enlightenment,
Is thus, they say.
To come to it,
Do thus, not thus.
And thus…
The many paths are born.
Many paths…
Many Ways.
First, the experience described,
It's value conveyed,
And then the Way explained,
The moon reflected in water.
If enlightenment was not described,
How would any know of it,
And why it should be sought,
Among the 10,000 allures.
If a Way is not shown,
A Way cannot be followed,
To the end of suffering,
And the advent of Satchitananda.
Buddha interpreted his experience thus,
Shankara thus, Mahavir thus,
Lao Tzu thus, Bodhidharma thus,
And on and on… and on.
Experience,
Interpretation,
Expression.
And in most instances,
So much more, heaped upon the essence;
Entire cosmologies formed,
Complex descriptions of “reality”.
So many teachers,
So many teachings,
All expressing The Way,
With certitude and authority.
And those who seek desperately,
A mirroring of clarity and context,
Search the words of those dead and living,
For some reflection…
Of their own unique Experience of Being.
They seek clarification of confusions,
Context, understanding… deepening,
Regarding the Great Mystery unfolding…
In their own unique Experience of Being.
Here and there they find affinity,
In the experiences of others,
The interpretations of others,
The expressions of others.
Wherever I searched,
In the teachings of others,
I found only pieces, more or less so…
Of my own unique Experience of Being.
Among friends, as well, met along the Way,
I saw the taking of this, and discarding of that
As each piece fit, more or less so…
Their own unique Experience of Being.
Gods and Goddesses,
Masters, Gurus, Saints,
Each reflecting this facet or that,
Of this incomprehensible Diamond.
Each a beautiful reflection,
Each a useful teaching,
Each…
A partiality.
A partiality.
Finding no refuge whole and complete,
In this view or that,
I fell down where I stood, Homeless…
In the Infinitude of incomprehensibility.
Surrender…
Far from the Village of the Known,
Road vanished into path,
Path vanished into hillside,
Hillside vanished into Vastness,
Vastness vanished into…
My Sat Guru,
My Heart,
Could offer no guidance,
Except…
Surrender…
Complete,
Absolute,
Across… the… Whole… of… Being…
Surrender…
The mind having reached the end of its ability,
Too intoxicated, too drunk with Amrita,
To understand or comprehend… anything at all.
Surrender…
To a Heart Shining, beyond all understanding,
With the Ecstasy of Heaven,
And Filled to overflowing, with Causeless Love.
Surrender…
To Grace… Unearned, Unmerited,
Born of the simple fact,
Of Existing…
Surrendered.
