The Enlightened Mother's Door Curtain

with deep gratitude for the Dharma art of Iwasaki Tsuneo (1917-2002),

and to Paula Arai and Shambhala Publications for bringing his cosmic meditation maps to the world.

Flickering right there

at the moment of dawn’s blue light —

leaving, arriving

driven into one.

>|<

A vision:

something-between

dying and ‘being dead’;

a leaving of the body behind

without clinging.

A vision:

my earthly mother

finds my body in a heap

like an abandoned cicada shell.

Her hand on my shoulder,

tears fall for the unfulfilled.

A vision:

my sleeping body

feels the hand of my earthly mother

on my shoulder;

I awake with a jolt

wondering if she has crossed over.

>|<

Eyes snap awake:

Spark of dawn.

Ears ringing:

Eternal Bell-Echo

>|<

Friends,

dead or alive,

we are never outside

the vast loving embrace

of the Enlightened Mother.

This is the Great Settling of Anxiety.

This is the answer to the question: “What is ‘home,' really?”

This is seeing the moon

of ten thousand buddha lands

in a single cup of tea.

>|<

The sounds of morning are the hymns of arriving.

Silence is the anthem of leaving.

Arriving, leaving.

Leaving, arriving.

It's all just returning...

And, dying?

Just brushing through

a curtain between two rooms.