So, I’ve been thinking, as I continue to pursue my meditation practices, that perhaps, in addition to mandalas as primary visual focus, haikus could be used sort of like mantras as additional mental foci:
Generally, a haiku might emphasize one’s meditative intent:
Be undistracted
Clear, open, alert, focused,
Perfectly present
Or:
Past is no longer
Future remains to be seen
Now is eternal
Or, possibly:
I must be conscious
Enveloped in thought, knowing
What it’s like to be
Sometimes, though, I get caught up in irritations that interfere with my goal of achieving some sort of enlightenment. Perhaps an appropriate haiku might ease or erase the problem:
Cultivate mindful
Compassionate responses
To those you despise
Or:
Inhale deeply, breathe
Expose the fallacies of
Acquired dogmas
Although, I’m not sure if this tact might not exacerbate the problem:
Mean words, hurt feelings
Hypersensitivity
Empowers the weak
Well, you get the idea. I’ll try these out; see which ones help me get nearer my goals. Actually just writing these haikus is quite enlightening.
