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weary of war

More on swords:

from Upaya Zen Center’s Newsletter:


Weary of War: Sadhar Khan


Greg Mortensen’s new book, Stones into Schools:a poem written by Sadhar Khan a village elder in Baharak in Northern Afghanistan in response to the authors question,”You are a busy man with enormous responsibilities, so why do you spend so much time just watching the river go by?”

You wonder why I sit,
here on this rock,
by the side of this river, doing nothing?

There is so much to be done for my people.
We have so little food,
we have so few jobs,
our fields are in shambles,
and still there are land mines everywhere.

So I am here to listen to
the quiet,
the water,
and the singing trees.

This is the sound of peace
in the presence of Allah.
After thirty years as a mujahadeen,
I have grown old from fighting.
I resent the sounds of destruction.

I am so weary of war.

Unknown's avatar

sword dance

If you are making subjective, personalized judgments about events in the past and present but have not been through the process of refining and purifying your insight, you are doing a sword dance without first having learned how to handle a sword.

Master Fa-yen Wenyo (885-958) from Selfless Insight by James Austin

This little nook is way too small a space in which to swing a sword.  And I love my kitties too much to swing them by the tail… maybe except for one.  But that’s the problem, isn’t it? There’s always someone for whom I’m more than willing to compromise my practice (synonymous with ethics). Learning how to handle this  mind-sword has left me with a number of scars – most of which I’m quite proud of.  They remind me to tread lightly, breathe deeply, and know when to sit as a mountain.

For now, I leave you with these two little nooks we have inhabited for the last week.  Thank you for joining us here.

May your practice be a light handed sword dance,

Genju