[ An I-land ]

.
 
This morning I woke with the words An Island Unto Yourself in my head.
I couldn’t put my mind-finger on whether those words were something I’d heard before, or something new my in-between state mind composed. Pulling up my trusty friend Google though, I quickly discovered it is a phrase in one of my favorite Buddhist texts, The Dhammapada:
 
Make an island unto yourself!
Strive hard and become wise!
Rid of impurities and cleansed of stain,
you shall not come again to birth and decay.
[Dhammapada 18:4 (238)]
 
BUT, upon pulling out my copy of it, (and the only translation I’ve read) I discovered it translates that line as, “Prepare a refuge for yourself…”
 
How did I get the other translation in my head?
 
Regardless of whether you can answer that question or not, it, yet again, is another link emphasizing and reinforcing my ongoing lessons of Standing Authentically On My Own Regardless of Who or What Currently Occupies My Present Environment.
 
Calmness
Gentleness
Conscious Reacting (or Absence Thereof)
Thinking For Oneself
Unmanipulatable Choices
Unswayable Standards
Non-attachment to Outcomes
Unaffected Absorbing of Others’ Actions
Seeking the Root
Hearing the Heart
Objectively Seeing Only What Is
Loving All Things—
 
These are the strokes I desire to be brushed with.
An Interactive Disconnectedness.
Oxymoronic, yet balanced.
 
 
 
An Island unto myself, strong in my own Self…
An I-land not dictated by my “I”…
An In-land fueled from the perpetual boundless spring of the Deep calling to Deep… 
 
 
 
.

One comment

  1. Melissa Rae says:

    For goodness sakes, I love you constantly! Darling … How true. No matter what is going on around us. No matter how difficult it sometimes is …. Being true to thy self… Being authentic is essential in self growth // in spiritual enlightenment …As always- beautiful words!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *