Self-Renewing: A Canadian Call for Mindcare

      

By Changming Yuan

Self-Renewing: A Canadian Call for Mindcare True well-being can be attained only through within. – A Zen Proverb 1/ The Dynamics of Selfhood Hidden in the heart of every selfhood Is a tiny seed of antiself That keeps growing invisibly Until it is big, big enough To be one and the same With your entire being Like a drop of condensed color Dyeing all the water In a diaphanous jug Each time it gains a growth Your previous self gets thinner Lighter, larger, yet more colorful Like yin seeking to become Totally mixed with yang In an ever renewed balance 2/ Self Relaxing Take away Better to put off The fire under the cauldron Of your boiling consciousness When the water within your mind cools down Growing as still as the lake in deep autumn It will reflect the most distant stars Even the sun, getting ready to rise From the other side of the world Until you see all the universe Shrinking into a lightspot Of zen 3/ Self Subtracting Imagine Sitting under a tall pipal On a vast expanse of the prairie Where you transform your entire selfhood Into the little marigold in front of you Then, the running stream water The gliding bird The drifting cloud The morning glow The summer sky Where you are The universe Where the universe Is you 4/ Inner Burning As pure energy Burns continuously Behind your chest Like an inner sun Its heat evaporates your whole body Into thin mists of light Rising towards the heavens While your shape still remains Around your little spot of consciousness Where you can observe your own soul Spiraling, dancing Around the light 5/ Inner Transforming Hold your mind steady As it rolls back and forth Drifting around Like a raindrop on a lotus leaf And reform it From a giant green-skinned frog Into an ever bigger, lighter Buddha Until your whole being inside out Breaking into trillions of individual cells Each being an other self of yours Like a star beyond the skyline Glistening, whispering As if chanting In a universal prayer For harmony 6/ Inner Purifying Stand still Eye to eye To a fir or cypress Communicate with it In the mother tongue of love While opening every closet in your heart Cleaning every corner of your body With the dewdrops from the tree Then, bring your vision from afar Back to your soul And put it above a lotus flower Pure, fresh, crystal 7/ Light Gathering Stretch your hands Along the horizon Embrace all the cosmoses With your arms Slowly rising Like the morning tide While gathering all the energy The spirit, the light From the very infinite 8/ Heaven Reaching As if from a leak in heaven Enormous bodies of light Pour down Right onto your senses Splashing into myriads of inspirations Penetrating your skin Moisturizing each cell Each nerve ending In your inflated body Until they all melt Into the light 9/ The Art of Self-Renewal Let compassion grow, rising Above your inner landscape Like the most glaring summer sun Let love burn, brilliantly Burning out all your internal organs And shooting its warmth through your skin Let there be light, falling from heaven Becoming thicker, stronger, brighter Occupying every cell within your shape Until you become fully enlightened Yuan Changming published monographs on translation before leaving China. With a Canadian PhD in English, Yuan currently edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver; credits include ten Pushcart nominations, the Naji Naaman's Literary Prize 2018, Best of the Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Threepenny Review and 1,449 others worldwide. yuan changming @ Poetry Pacific https://poetrypacific.blogspot.ca https://happyyangsheng.blogspot.ca Lotus Image & License: Depositphotos_32738103_s-2015