Fannys on zafus in honorable poses;
Sit in the zendo and breathe through our noses.
Inos and doans. The large bronze bell rings.
 
These are a few of my favorite Zen things.

Sore, achy muscles from sitting through sesshin.
Avalokitishvara, Dogen and Kuan Yin.
All bodhisattvas throughout the world sing,
These are a few of my favorite Zen things.

When the tire's flat.
When I feel fat.
When I'm seething mad.
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then things don't look so bad.

Work in the green-house or samu in kitchen;
Wrestle the bramble into short-term submission.
Straighten your rakusu: the only zen bling.
 
These are a few of my favorite Zen things.

Chanting and kinhin and bowing to founders;
Sanzen with Hogen when my practice flounders.
Koans and parties with puppets that sing.
 
These are a few of my favorite Zen things.

When I'm freezing.
When I'm roasting.
When there is no breeze.
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I'm more at ease.

Red cape and cap because Jizo gets too cold.
Practice my dying--hopefully when I'm old.
Boat-loads of metta for all living beings.
 
These are a few of my favorite Zen things.

The gateway to freedom is zazen samadhi.
Be one with the moment: heart/mind and body.
For a great Heart of Wisdom: the moment's the thing.
 
These are a few of my favorite Zen things.

When I'm stressed-out.
What's this about?
Try to seek its source.
The Great Way is easy for those without
"favorite things" of course.

To what do I owe the pleasure?


To thee, of course.


To years of truth that cut like scalpels, knives and saws,
Leaving me bloody, but lighter.


To years of fire that burn away the underbrush, deadfall and chaff,
Setting the forest floor for growth anew.


To years of flood that have washed away all the loose, fetid rot of me,
Where my "good" and "bad" are not distinguished.


To the wind, ever-present, blowing hard from all directions;
Challenging me to stand in the face of it and howl back.


To all those energies that have come to manifest my life;
Each person, place, thing that has helped me become more verb-like.


The magic of banality, the wonder of boredom, the thrill of ennui;
Each sting of assumption and error a Zenji.


To sit
As a stone
In a field;
Immovable but by time,
Resolute through stasis,
Confident via gravity,
Stalwart by way of density.
Eternal on the small scale,
Insignificant to the large.
A solid, concrete illusion.
An æons-old, tenuous conglomeration.
Dependable,
Yet ever crumbling,
atom
by
atom
back
into
aggregate.
Out of time,
out of place,
out of form,
The Universe spreads her legs,
and
Noumena is born.
Looking upon this place
With blurry,
unfocused,
impossibly blue eyes;
Seeing that all is right with the world,
and greeting it with a awful, confused wail.