Dokkōdō The precepts:

Accept everything just the way it is.

Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.

Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.

Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.

Be detached from desire your whole life long.

Do not regret what you have done.

Never be jealous.

Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.

Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.

Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.

In all things have no preferences.

Be indifferent to where you live.

Do not pursue the taste of good food.

Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.

Do not act following customary beliefs.

Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.

Do not fear death.

Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.

Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.

You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.

Never stray from the Way.

ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokk%C5%8Dd%C5%8D

Ninety-Nine Percent

Ninety-Nine  Percent

We’re so much less than we were ever born to be
It seems you see
                          this is a world set up to serve the tiniest Minority

A common political diffusion, focused on fixed financial profusion, aimed at mass confusion, promoting a mechanistic mentality
That does its best to box us in, set us up, and rob us of our Humanity

Such HARD choices , made before most of us even take a breath

A “matter of fact” world made up of mean compromise and shoddy pretence

A salesman’s paradise without dimension, a staged scene, a painted over prop produced to push a lie:
“Work hard, head down , just like Us –  you to can Rise
Or accept your lot, turn on your TV -set, relax and let it happen, You were born to serve”  

Our fruits, our ken, our hardest won rewards (tell of something more)
Our Poetry, our Literature, our Songs, sing of something else

But it seems they’re all for the dogs?

Even science
Subtle complexity of mind, independent thinking
Chained
Shorn of beauty, laid bare, cold and unadorned
Unloved servant of the flesh
Stripped and strapped and pressed into rude service  
When with it we should soar
To find new vista’s, new horizons, new dimensions
The heavens as our gateway, inspiration as our door

But no, it seems we are not set on seeking more
Our freedoms are nothing but a corporate invention, our lives spent marking time in service of a pipe-dream, our best minds bent on making:
                                                                     Fixed, fee, derivative, credit, swaps

And Yet
They call Us mad, for seeking something else?
They say, there is no other way
Things are as they are
                                   and that’s how they’ll stay
                                                           and so we’re forced to “Occupy”

They do not fear us yet, they do not hear us yet
but they will, for we are waking
We are the ninety nine percent

Mankind at Play #poetry

Mankind at play

Some words I’d like to say
About the things we do instead, about the games we play:
 
It’s not just diversion, it’s distraction that we seek
We want to hide from the cold, hard, facts because we’re weak

It’s joy and escapism to flee the world we build
Because it’s hard to face the harsh realities unfurled

But we’ll take the joy, the sparkling moments that we find
The happiness between cracks, the pleasures of the mind

And in this brief interlude, oasis of the heart
Something new and green can grow, enough to make a start

And taking this I’m hoping
That one day soon we’ll find
The courage to forget we’re working and learn to savour all mankind