Melville's map

Ironic, that
I am looking for the path
slogging in the heavy mud
following the routes and desires
the ruts and rocks filling the way
Sitting amongst all these maps
and going nowhere but
back to where I have been
"It is not down in any map
true places never are"
The unknown howls up ahead
like a fiend in the dark
I have got to get moving
the map says it is right
the pulse speaks of what
lies ahead
Nothing and everything
depending on the fork in that road
"It is not down in any map
true places never are."

Necessary

when an old culture is dying, the new culture will be formed by men and women who are not afraid of insecurity.

Suzuki Roshi said "All of you are perfect, and you could use a little improvement."

Yeah. So, you know, one of the things with the bodhisattva warrior, they say that "No matter how far you get in terms of being unhooked yourself, or being happy yourself, or always look back at who you used to be. Never forget to look back at the neurosis that you carried for so many years. Otherwise you'll lose your contact with the suffering of other people."

So for the bodhisattva warrior, our kinship with each other is the crucial thing, you know. So it isn't that really you want to avoid the pain of the world, because that educates you about what other people are up against. But the suffering. When I remember earlier I tried to distinguish between pain and suffering? And that suffering is what could lessen, and there could be a sensation of suffering. So you're not trying to tell people that then there'll be no bad more things happening to good people. But that the good people will relate to things in a way that doesn't escalate their suffering, and therefore the suffering of those around them.

Shantideva said, "We, who like senseless children "Shrink from suffering, but love its causes."

Skin and wishbones

Day after day afterTrying to understand
Why the world tries to grind you down
Make a ghost out of a man
Your date of grace is due
And you've pawned everything you own
I guess some dreams just don't come true
Nothin' left but skin and wishbones
Each year the world gets lonelier
And uglier with sin
You'll never see those blue skies

Through young eyes again
You've prayed to every god you've known
Just to wind up all alone
Your friends are gone, your mama's dead
Nothin' left but skin and wishbones
Spin the bottle cap
Throw a shot back
Everything's gonna be all right
Spin the bottle cap
Throw a shot back
Cough and cry
Lay down and die
Grab an end, hold on tight
Bottles and bones in the night
You'll never go back home
You old wishbone
Can't eat can't sleep can't think
Not knowing where to go
This is real life brother
This ain't no reality show
If suffering is human

Well I guess we're not alone
You'll survive on next to nothing
But you won't live on skin and wishbones
Spin the bottle cap…

-Slaid Cleves