Tracing an Absence

June 15, 2022

“The words emptiness and reality point to different things. But a complete emptiness is a complete reality, so they’re also the same. In the Heart Sutra, it’s famously said: form is emptiness and emptiness is form. How is that? Observe the images that come into your mind—an awareness of light reflecting and a feeling of void throughout the room, the landscape—study this.”

Late night practice. I close my eyes and begin to orient to this space, silently feeling the quality of this—and the awareness that beholds it. The long ache of a cicada rises out of the silence, then fades. A few drops of rain tap the windows, then stop. The wind pushes the chimes, then they fall silent again. When I open my eyes, my vision is soft in the darkness. The distant sky is flickering, briefly tracing clouds—gone. It all goes silent as I watch the watcher and pause. My teacher’s words appear out of, into the space—Let the goodness take you—and I let go. The storm finally reaches me, and the silence is crushed.

tracing an absence —
the shape of a cloud
already gone

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Excerpt from CLOUDSCAPE RECORD.

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