BROTHERS

Brothers in spirit
in the Judean desert
under the Bodhi tree
left us simple lessons

We pick and choose
which ones to ignore

because they are hard to live
because we fear the other
because we shun the least of our brothers
because we judge harshly
because we forget why we came
               to this vale of tears
because we live on the horizontal

"spirits in a material world"
because we ignore the vertical
reaching to eternity

We--captives--see only a "Castle of Wonders"

Look to the point where the two directions cross
                    The middle way

We do not guess
that the blood of one brother
transubstantiated the earth into sacred ground
“Put off thy shoes from thy feet”
that the elder brother touched the ground

revealed the Path of Dharma

Both bore witness
Both taught the way
to distill dross into gold

The lotus has eight petals
The lotus has a thousand petals