Quote for Contemplation 2 / Nov 2

Thoughts From My Late Teacher - Darion Kuma Gracen (1949-2007)

Frank Inzan Owen

Nov 3, 2022

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a quote from an extended teaching about the reality of energy (the aimed volition of heart-mind) and where and how we place our attention shaping our lives.

Greetings Good Travelers and Dear Wayfarers —

I wanted to take just a moment to share a bit about the quotes that will be appearing here at The Poet’s Dreamingbody this month. For those who missed my last voice message, November is the anniversary month of my teacher’s death in 2007. To commemorate this and to share and celebrate some of the wisdom I encountered in my time of studying with her, I’m posting some of her quotes.

Most of these quotes were uttered in group situations, though a few I will post later on in the month felt akin to individual directives. Though not sourced in anything so formal as a Dharma talk, some of the phrases are saturated in dharma — the Buddhadharma, the “dharma” of the Tao, the dharma of a human contemplative oriented to the seasons and Nature.

As you will see, some of Kuma’s quotes are soothing. Some of the quotes can feel downright fierce — as if Fudo Myōō (her patron Buddhist saint) opened his fanged mouth and spoke truth to power. All of the quotes, however, feel like a condensed pith teaching that unfurls (and continues to) upon continued reflection.

Similar to how Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, NY speaks of dharma discourses (spoken dharma) as wisdom that is “dark to the mind but radiant to the heart,” some of Kuma-sensei’s quotes have a way of rattling our scaffolding, evaporating the mirage of projections we fabricate around the “reality” we call life, and invoking within us the genuine energy of the Wayfaring Heart-Mind (—her concept for the eternal part of us that seeks liberation and enlightenment *not* solely for ourselves but also on behalf of others; not as an escape or a form of anesthesia from life’s suffering, but as a path of adventure that can lead to boundless contentment and creativity).

As we proceed forward this month, interspersed with other poems and Wayfaring Poet Profiles, I may tell a few “Darion stories” as well.

Enjoy…and whatever path you walk, wherever it is you call home…welcome to this campfire of memory, verse, and sound.

SOUND MAP

“Equanimity” from AS IT IS, Steve Roach, Projekt Records