The Buddha taught
the seven
enlightenment factors.
Rather than merely
enumerating them
in a manner as cold, academic,
and pseudo-insightful as:
1 mindfulness,
2 investigation,
3 energy,
4 joy,
5 relaxation,
6 release, and
7 balance;
instead we could remember
that the Buddha
(rather than imploring us
to concentrate on purity)
taught us to be mindful
of all that we experience.
Instead of defensively
suppressing:
perceptions or emotions,
or intentions, or thoughts
or memories, or fantasies
best described as grotesque
he taught us to explore
whatever we experience
with vulnerability
and curiosity.
Not with the shame,
self-loathing, and duality
that hates some thoughts
and loves others
but with the joy
that comes
from the vulnerability
and curiosity
that is fueled by the energy
of enthusiasm and curiosity
and is tempered by both
the physical relaxation
as well as mental release
that helps us to find
the balance between
the strain of resisting
the presence
of what we hate,
the strain of resisting
the absence
of what we crave,
and the strain of resisting
the loss
of what we have
but rather
live in balance,
in the spacious freedom
that comes from balancing
surrender,
with spontaneity,
and centeredness.
Let us conclude
with a simple
call to action
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