Posted inArt and Poems, Dharma, Meditations, Valerie's Messages

Message from Valerie: Center

June 14, 2023

The German Sanbozen master, Silvia Ostertag, had a practice of sitting every morning and every evening. No matter how full the day, she framed it with zazen. After sitting, Silvia Roshi would sometimes compose a poem, a few words springing from her practice that served as pointers for students. A number of these poems have to do with time – or more to the point, no time. 

The absolute timelessness of each moment. Boundless, borderless, replete with absolute capacity; yet empty of any hindrance: nothing to impede or impinge on anything. 

Nothing but now. 

One of Silvia’s short poems is about this borderless “Center”:

In the centre
of the now
there is no time.
No before,
nor after.
In this centre
now.

What might it be to dwell in the timeless time of now? No before. No after. One seamless sitting. Now . . . Now . . . Now. 

Zazen is an inexhaustible invitation. 

Photo by Pramod Tiwari on Unsplash

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