Buddha Nature (poem)

In quiet meditation sits he who has lost belief
in self and its permanence, and sees the misconception
of self nature for what it is: mistaken opinion spread
like gossip which benefits no one and
only promotes suffering.
For no tiny, fully formed person is
present within each of us;
no self that is permanent lives in the heart;
and no soul lives after death.

With faith and determination, all doubts are cast aside
as he sits there in mindful practice.
Once his thoughts were like horses racing around the dusty track;
now they slow down, and almost stop -
it's as though his mind stands still.
In this stillness of mind, calm insight abounds.
Wisdom arises through quiet reflection on his experience .
The mind grows clear, all desire swept away like clouds
from the clear blue sky uncovering the sun.

Through mindful practice is this gem of truth revealed:
with clear mind sits he who has found faith
in the Buddha's Teaching of impermanence,
having once doubted, he tests and validates the Four Noble Truths,
to see self nature for what it is:
that the essential intrinsic being is the life essence of each person,
and that this essential being is none other than Buddha himself.
For radiantly luminous and indestructible
as a diamond is Buddha Nature, and its essence is the Buddha.

With calm insight, meditation on nothingness is abandoned
as the mindful one realizes that Buddha Nature is no-self,
for self is empty of inherent existence.
Since emptiness maintains the Buddha's purpose
to help sentient beings end their suffering,
the state of emptiness is devoid of its negative, unwanted condition.
For everything is interdependent due to dependent arising,
never fully independent of each other.
Thus is both mental and physical existence empty of nature or essence.