Skipping Stones

The surface of the pond is still.

You throw a stone in –splash!

The water ripples upon the surface

while the stone falls through the calm underneath.

Then all sense of motion fades.

It is always stillness.

 

Your ears perceive the silence.

A crow in a nearby tree makes his mighty call –caw!

The call carves the air like an arrow in flight,

and it hits your ears,

reverberating inside your mind.

Then all sense of sound fades.

It is always silence.

 

So too, your everyday consciousness is enlightenment

with temporary pictures upon it–

thoughts, images, ideas, feelings–

the pure mind

carved in a manner in which nothing is thrown away;

everything you see is the whole remaining whole,

inclusive of the seer.

Then the pictures stop,

and all sense of perceiving fades.

It is always pure Mind.

 

Understand this,

and you will no longer seek enlightenment.

 

Then you and I can sit together by the edge of the pond

and throw skipping stones.