Meditation - Tapas

Would it be possible to write a poem
about the contents of meditation in the mind?
Would it be like describing the contents
of a hole in the ground by identifying its width and depth?
Can you cast light on the contents of the hole
by describing the rough walls or loose dirt at the bottom?
Is this the goal of meditation to empty the mind
like digging a hole and then becoming its content?
Does the very attempt to describe the result
or content of meditation fall into a pit of sacrilege?
Am I stepping into a novice trap or trying to theorize
about a process so diverse and each time different?
Have you read many different approaches where each,
curiously, describes the outcome differently?
Is there a common thread that can be identified
contained in the result of all forms of meditation?
Or are there private experiences characterized as similar,
interrelated, based on intention and imperfect results?
If the search for understanding using meditation
takes us to an ascetic isolation, what have we gained?
Is this passing the test or simply leaving the classroom
and disrespecting the teacher?
Does the virtue of meditation lie in “getting off the wheel”
of recurring lives, eliminating karma?
Like emptying ones loose bowels, spread-eagle over a smelly toilet
in a fast moving train in Asia?
Is it necessary to accept the concept of other lives, or a god
in order to profit by meditation?
Can writing poetry, no matter how humble as this,
be a successful or even “perfect” meditation?
Does the content of this poetic form of meditation,
the verses I have created, for example,
So simple and void of content, holding no answers
release the mind from its trap just as well?
Does this poem help us connect to our hearts?
I hope so.

I.J. Hall December 25, 2003

This poem as well as the previous poem, Bon di, are taken from my book, Bodhicitta: Higher Truth, which is available as an e-file download free for the asking. It is considered an advanced book on Buddhist practice.