Outer Chaos, Inner Peace

A barrage of disorder meets the watchful eye,

So futile are the efforts cast from the thinking mind.

An insatiable infinity of labels, names and form,

Trapped in a cycle of perpetual fascination.

A noble effort to make meaning of the senses,

For they are a signpost to that which leads to the unexplored.

Beyond the calling for existential understanding,

Lying in the midst of a chaotic masterpiece, is a shared essence.

The most secret, obscured, yet illuminatingly simple Truth,

Can be seen with just a squint of intent, beyond the distortion.

For Chaos has the semblance of form,

To be appreciated not in the presence, but absence of itself.

Like a shadow to the light, a unifying permanence amidst a shower of motion.

An earnest inquiry may lead you to the inevitable recognition,

That this permanence gave rise to your being,

That ‘You’ and ‘I’, are this Essence.

Written and drawn during my stay at Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery, July 2024