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Reposted by Gassho 🙏🏼

Gerhard Oevermann 🐦‍⬛ @oevermann.bsky.social · 26d

Without Asking to Be Remembered

#poetry (alt text)

I walked out into the morning
the light still uncertain among the branches
shadows lying across the ground
as though they were waiting for someone to notice
I followed the path where the leaves
had fallen long before I came
their silence spoke to me
not in words but in the way they rested
without asking to be remembered
& I thought of the voices
that once filled this air
the laughter that rose in the evenings
the questions that never found answers
all carried away like water
slipping through its own reflection
I kept walking and the river appeared
moving without hesitation
its surface breaking into a thousand mirrors
none of which stayed
I leaned down and touched it
but the moment was already gone
& the sound of it
continued as if nothing had happened
as if nothing ever could happen
except what was already passing
on the far bank the trees bent into the current
their roots tangled with stones
older than any memory
they did not resist
they leaned as though listening
to something I could not hear
& I wondered if silence itself
might be a kind of hearing
that outlasts the need for answers
I thought then of your hand in mine
how it fit without effort
the way a shadow fits the ground
and how it slipped away
not into absence
but into another form of presence
that follows me still
though I do not speak of it
when I stop walking it arrives
and when I move again
it goes on ahead
like the path itself
always leading somewhere
I cannot remain
the sky shifted
and the birds lifted out of the trees without warning
their wings making a sound
that might have been the air remembering itself
I looked up until they were gone
and the space they left behind
was filled with light
as though nothing had left at all
& I knew then
that the world had never been waiting for me
yet it carried me
as it carried everything
without choosing
without keeping
and that even as I turned back
the grass already rising in my footsteps
it would continue
without end
without forgetting
without needing a reason

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Sep 10

Pause between in and out -
a small island of not-knowing.
Step there and stay awhile -
the world rearranges itself.

#Mindfulness-of-breathing (Ānāpānasati) #Insight (Vipassanā) #Non-striving
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Photo of a monk sitting peacefully at the river

Pause between in and out -
a small island of not-knowing.
Step there and stay awhile -
the world rearranges itself.

7

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Sep 9

A spider’s web holds dew -
each bead a small mirror.
Touch one, and the whole net shivers -
you are never only you.

#Interbeing #Right-View (Sammā Diṭṭhi) #Dependent-Origination (Paṭiccasamuppāda)
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Photograph of dew on a spider’s web in the forest

A spider’s web holds dew -
each bead a small mirror.
Touch one, and the whole net shivers -
you are never only you.

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Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Sep 8

Thank you so much for sharing, Lanie. 🙏🏼
@pressingstories.bsky.social

1 1

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Sep 8

Thank you so much for sharing. 🙏🏼
@lilithl.bsky.social

1

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Sep 8

Thank you very much for sharing, Joe. 🙏🏼

Reposted by Gassho 🙏🏼

Gerhard Oevermann 🐦‍⬛ @oevermann.bsky.social · Sep 7

Sunday opens
like a fist
soft with forgiveness

#poetry

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Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Sep 8

He held his anger
like a sword-
until he saw
his own reflection
on the blade.

#Mindfulness #Right-action #Insight
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Photo of an angry man, staring at his own image reflected in his sword.

He held his anger
like a sword-
until he saw
his own reflection
on the blade.

6

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Sep 4

Thank you so much for sharing, Julia. 🙏🏼
@peculiarjulia.bsky.social

1

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Sep 4

Compassion
is not letting them walk over you-
it’s standing
without hate
even as you say
no.

#Lovingkindness (Mettā) #Equanimity #Right-Speech
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Painting of a peaceful monk, standing with his hand up in front of an angry man.

Compassion
is not letting them walk over you-
it’s standing
without hate
even as you say
no.

2 3 10

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Sep 4

Anger rises-
a wave, sharp and high.
Let it pass.
You are not the wave.
You are the ocean.

#Mindfulness #Non-attachment #Patience
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Painting of a wave.

Anger rises-
a wave, sharp and high.
Let it pass.
You are not the wave.
You are the ocean.

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Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Sep 4

A sparrow landed
on the monk’s shoulder.
They sat in silence—
and both
understood everything.

#Interbeing #Stillness #Awareness
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Painting of a monk sitting with a sparrow on his shoulder.

A sparrow landed
on the monk’s shoulder.
They sat in silence—
and both
understood everything.

1 1 10

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 25

Don’t chase silence.
Just stop feeding
the noise.

#Right-Effort #Mindfulness #Simplicity
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Painting of a meditating monk.

Don’t chase silence.
Just stop feeding
the noise.

7

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 22

A child’s laugh
echoed across the temple stones.
That, too,
was meditation.

#Joy (Muditā) #Awareness #Non-duality
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Photo of a child monk, laughing in front of the temple.

A child’s laugh
echoed across the temple stones.
That, too,
was meditation.

7

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 16

You don’t have to end the storm.
Just keep the lamp lit
for those finding their way.

#Right-Intention #Compassion (Karuṇā) #Generosity
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Painting of a lamp lit inside a monastery doorway during the rain.

You don’t have to end the storm.
Just keep the lamp lit
for those finding their way.

11

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 14

Forgiveness is not a river’s rush-
it’s the slow work
of thawed snow,
finding its way to sea.

#Patience #Compassion (Karuṇā) #Liberation
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Painting of a river and landscape with snow melting toward the water. A crane sits by the shore.

Forgiveness is not a river’s rush-
it’s the slow work
of thawed snow,
finding its way to sea.

1 11

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 13

You do not have to shine.
Even the moon
lets the night
hold her in darkness
and still
the tide obeys.

#Interbeing #Self-Acceptance #Trust
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Image of the moon in a dark sky over the ocean

You do not have to shine.
Even the moon
lets the night
hold her in darkness
and still
the tide obeys.

3 13

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 13

When the heron
stands in still water,
it does not wonder
if the fish will come-
it simply waits.

#Mindfulness (Sati) #Right-Effort #Patience
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Painting of a heron standing still in the lake.

When the heron
stands in still water,
it does not wonder
if the fish will come-
it simply waits.

10

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 12

You are not late.
The path appears
when you’re ready
to walk it.

#Trust #Right-Timing (Sammā Vāyāma) #Inner-Readiness
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Drawing of a monk walking along the path in the countryside.

You are not late.
The path appears
when you’re ready
to walk it.

8

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 12

Not every answer
needs a voice.
Some truths
are learned
by sitting
with the question.

#Mindfulness (Sati) #Right-View (Sammā Diṭṭhi) #Wisdom (Paññā)
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Drawing of a monk sitting in meditation.

Not every answer
needs a voice.
Some truths
are learned
by sitting
with the question.

1 11

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 10

Although the title has been said for many years.

1

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 10

Yes.

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Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 10

As You Think, So You Are

A mind is a mirror.
Polish it with fear,
and fear will stare back.
Polish it with hope,
and the world will open.

#Mindfulness (Sati) #Right-View (Sammā Diṭṭhi) #Karma (Cause and Effect of Mental States)
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Painting of a seated child monk.

As You Think, So You Are

A mind is a mirror.
Polish it with fear,
and fear will stare back.
Polish it with hope,
and the world will open.

1 16

Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 10

A river’s song
does not change
for the ears that hear it.
So too,
with truth-
it flows
whether welcomed
or ignored.

#Integrity #Right-Speach #Dharma
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Painting of a small river, moving into the distance

A river’s song
does not change
for the ears that hear it.
So too,
with truth-
it flows
whether welcomed
or ignored.

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Gassho 🙏🏼 @nobletruth.bsky.social · Aug 6

The crow called once-
a sound sharp as winter.
And yet,
in that cry,
the whole sky
answered.

#Interbeing #Right-View #Awareness
#poem #poetry #buddhism

Painting of a crow calling from a branch.

The crow called once-
a sound sharp as winter.
And yet,
in that cry,
the whole sky
answered.

2 12