A few months ago in the middle of the night our house caught fire and burned to the ground.
We fled the building with only seconds to spare.
Everything was lost in the fire.
In the remains of the bedroom, the bed that I had been asleep in was reduced to a pile of black springs — the remnants of the innerspring mattress.
Beside the bed in a concrete step were the remains of a pile of books which had somehow semi survived: books by the founder of this meditation.
I retrieved and sorted through them and marveled at how many pages of books that have inspired and taught me over the years had survived.
Here is a picture of one intact, albeit a little charred, book and my favourite poem from it.
The Sky Is The Stage
And The Creations Are The Actors
Many things may come and go in the empty space of the sky,
but the sky always just exists.
This sky is the mother and father of all creations;
it raises and rears all creations,
and it is also the stage.
Numerous actors may come and go on this stage,
but the stage is always just there.
Heaven and earth are drawings,
as are the sky and sea.
All creations on earth are drawings -
everything is a drawing.
When those drawings do not exist,
only the origin - the paper - remains.
When I am reborn as the paper, I am the master of all creation.
I am the origin, for I am reborn within myself,
and I am the master, because I am reborn within myself.
Whether I come or go,
I, who have become real, always just exist.
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