by Robert Lockridge

A true and complete person
Of no status or accomplishment
Practices moment to moment
Making bright light
And casting many shadows.

Gods, demons, and Buddhas arise.
Where is the human path?
If you push away desire and get free,
What is left?
Who am I?
WHAT IS THIS?

A single breath and an entire life –
Are they the same or different?
If your answer is for only yourself,
A keen-eyed lion
Becomes a blind dog.

How do you walk without
Stepping on your shadow?
Be careful!
If you try to make a point
The life goes out if it.
Dead cows don’t need medicine.

Tigers above, tigers below
Losing your grip on the cliff face,
A drop of dew falls
From a wild strawberry
Onto your tongue.
How do you save your life?
Everything you need to answer is here.
If you make something
You go right to hell.

Why do you eat every day?
Consider how clearly your life
Answers that for you.
To untie the knot in your heart
Cut swift and deep
Without hesitation.

Just this
Right now
Is true self.

Daughter lover teacher friend
Correct situation and relationship
Show the way to the human path.
Looking neither right nor left
Walk to the top of the hill;
On the way you will see clearly —
The sky is blue, the tree is green.

HAH!

In summer, spring flowers die.
The grass grows by itself.