Some Dharma Poems

[Michael Erlewine]

Seek and Not Find
If you find yourself, then you are not looking.
You will never not-find-yourself, unless you look.

In other words:
If you don’t look, you will find yourself,
If you look, you will not find yourself.

That is the nature of having no nature.

The Rest of the Mind
You cannot rest the mind,
But you can let the mind rest.
Just let go,
And don’t mind the rest.

Testing the Rest
Learning to rest the mind,
Really puts my practice to the test,
So sometimes I just need to take a break,
And simply get some rest.

Second Thoughts
A sudden whiff of impermanence,
Makes me wince,
And breaks my train of thought.

What was I thinking?

Eyes open, here now again,
Contemplating the stream of my own karma.

Impermanence,
The smelling salts of the dharma.