The Freedom found in structure Barry Magid November 11th 2017

Zen talks a lot about liberation and freedom and sometimes leaves us wondering - what is it for? What do we need freedom from? What do we need to be liberated to do? Getting clear about the nature of freedom usually involves cutting our way through a thicket of unconscious fantasies. One particular picture of freedom to wander the hills, write poems, hang out with your friends. Freedom from all the obligations of bourgeois society. What we think of freedom is rarely our friend and what we're really looking for is the right kind of fit and structure that will develop our capacities and allow us to function fully and freely.

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Philip Whalen Hymnus Ad Patrem Sinensis

I praise those ancient Chinamen
Who left me a few words,
Usually a pointless joke or a silly question
A line of poetry drunkenly scrawled on the margin of a quick
splashed picture- bug, leaf,
caricature of Teacher
on paper held together now by little more than ink
& their own strength brushed momentarily over it

Their world & several others since
Gone to hell in a handbasket, they knew it-
Cheered as it whizzed by-
& conked out among the busted spring rain cherryblossom winejars
Happy to have saved us all.

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