Monday Poem

—Miraculous power and marvelous activity,
drawing water and hewing wood.
–P’ang Yun

Talking With My Guru
….#1– Nothing to Lose

G: What exactly do you mean by emptiness?

Me: Nothing.

G:
Then why are we wasting time
sitting round talking about it?

Take your tiny Tao shears
and snip emptiness out of Webster’s
and heave it into the void. It’s another
self-serving euphemism like time

or collateral damage.

Go cut some wood, draw some water,
and stop sound-biting things to death
–and travel light (and lightly)
till the sun goes down.

Nothing and emptiness
are for advanced students
with nothing to lose.

Jim Culleny; 2008