Dharma Gleanings

I suspect that 2015 may be the last chapter of dharma gleanings. I’m resisting the impulse to present a story—any stories I present to myself shift into impermanence.

The insights of these past years, however unreliable as ultimate dharma, have served me as little lamps along the path, telling me where I am at a particular moment and shedding a bit of light to encourage me ahead. This website was created because I wanted these little lamps to shine out into the Universe—I did not know why, since I felt quite content if nobody read them. In the same way, I do not quite know why these lamps serve less and less as the manifestations of my spirit, why it seems less and less important to hang them out into the Universe.

The gaps in entries in October and November were not only a casualty of moving, they signaled this shift. I’m aware that more and more of the entries in 2015 reflect a tension, a loss of the organic impulse of earlier sharings. In some of these entries I am finding only slightly different language for insights that already feel quite familiar. I have tossed out a number that felt especially repetitive. In other entries I’m struggling to find language for experiences that are too far beyond language to be helpful to others. Both feel effortful. It’s as if some of these little lamps had grown dim with long use, and a few were too brilliant and hurt the eyes.

I began the year (January 5, 2015) remarking on an impulse to read and write less. Perhaps during this year I’ve come to rely less and less on thoughts and words to bring me light—although that is only another story.

Thank you for dipping in, however briefly, to this record of my practice, and I will be glad if you found that even one of those little lamps cast a light on your path.