Free and Easy: A Spontaneous Vajra Song

by Venerable Lama Gendun Rinpoche

Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower, but is already present, in open relaxation and letting go.

Don't strain yourself,
there is nothing to do or undo.
Whatever momentarily arises
in the body-mind
Has no real importance at all,
has little reality whatsoever.
Why identify with,
And become attached to it,
Passing Judgement upon it and ourselves?

Far better to simply
let the entire game happen on its own,
springing up and falling back like waves
without changing or manipulating anything
and notice how everything
vanishes and reappears, magically,
Again and again, time without end.

Only our searching for happiness
prevents us from seeing it.
It's like a vivid rainbow which you pursue
without ever catching,
or a dog chasing it's own tail.

Although peace and happiness
do not exist as an actual thing or place,
it is always available
and accompanies you every instant.

Don't believe in the reality
of good and bad experiences;
they are today's ephemeral weather,
like rainbows in the sky.

Wanting to grasp the ungraspable,
you exhaust yourself in vain.
As soon as you open and relax
this tight fist of grasping,
infinite space is there -
open, inviting and comfortable.

Make use of this spaciousness, this
freedom and natural ease.
Don't search any further
looking for the great awakened elephant,
who is already resting quietly at home
in front of your own hearth.

Nothing to do or undo,
nothing to force,
nothing to want,
And nothing missing.

Emaho! Marvelous!
Everything happens by itself.

Fresh Squeezed Juice

It is 2012.  I am, for the first New Year's Day in aeons, excited to be alive.  Unconvinced of the effectiveness of resolutions made in ritualistic madness,  I did not resolve to start a blog today.  What I resolved to do was to find closure in as many things as I began today.  I'll let you know how that goes.  So far, the new beginnings are looking pretty distracting.

Things that excite me today:
The Heart Sutra and A Vajra Song
Learning to blog
Talking to my Mom about the Texas Green Party
Silkscreening signs for the Occupy Wall Street West action on January 20th
And lo and behold, yes, cleaning house.