I was surprised to learn
there’s a hell in Buddhism
I thought hell was exclusive
to Christianity

never thought Buddhism
would have a hell

but then I read a distinct
difference

unlike Christianity
the Buddhist hell is not
eternal.

Bob Boyd

“A naraka differs from the concept of hell in Christianity in two respects: firstly, beings are not sent to Naraka as the result of a divine judgment or punishment; secondly, the length of a being’s stay in a naraka is not eternal,though it is usually incomprehensibly long.
A being is born into naraka as a direct result of its accumulated actions (karma) and resides there for a finite period of time until that karma has achieved its full result. After its karma is used up, it will be reborn in one of the higher worlds as the result of karma that had not yet ripened.”

Source: Wikipedia

Poor in America
can mean a car
cable tv
rental and heat
assistance
food stamps
food banks
medicaid health insurance
help from social services
in some third world
countries
one doesn’t
get all those benefits
poor is poor
compared to
living here
but sad it is
that anyone anywhere
lives in poverty
often born into it
often nearly
impossible to get
out of it
trapped in a
caste system
or something
comparable.

Bob Boyd

He had eyes like a reptile’s
not exactly the same
but something about them
seemed reptilian
seemed not human
he wondered if the eyes
were truly the windows
of the soul
what was hidden behind
those reptilian eyes
unfortunately, his suspicions
held true
when one day those eyes
revealed the hidden
reptilian alien within
and those were the
last eyes, reptilian
or otherwise,
he ever saw.

Bob Boyd

She’s always nice
always sweet
always polite
never unkind
never mean
but if you push
things too far
with her
by being too
unkind or mean
watch out
take cover
you will arouse
the dragoness
hidden in
her depths
you will see
it in her eyes
a glaring flash
like lightning
feel it in your
mind and
your marrow
shock and
sudden terror
and you will rue
the day you
aroused it.

Bob Boyd

They come
and they go
passing people
don’t put too
much stock
in them
in your life
like this
world they
are only
transient.

Bob Boyd

Spoon feed them
make them believe
anything they are fed
who cares about truth
just feed them lies
and disinformation
feed them those
lies and disinformation
over and over and over
like chanting a mantra
sinking it into the mind
and watch with glee
and with satisfaction
how easily they are duped.

Bob Boyd

Too many good people get murdered in this world
I see this all the time in true crime shows and the news
for example, a good wife or a good husband
murdered by their evil spouse for insurance money
or for the custody of their children
a young woman randomly raped and murdered
an innocent, good child caught in a crossfire of
a drive by shooting accidentally shot dead
all good people murdered, all good people dead
and I cannot understand why in this world
a presumably loving God allows this to happen.

Bob Boyd

I once met a woman who told me
what happened when her father died
she said at his funeral she felt
what she said was his spirit’s energy
flooding the entire funeral parlor
similar to how a guru’s spiritual energy
floods an entire ashram room and more
upon hearing her account of her father
I surmised he must have been a high
spiritual being, evident in life or not.

Bob Boyd

I see him scrambling up and down trees
I see him walking on telephone wires
Sometimes I see him on the ground
but I have no idea where he goes at night
and I have no idea where he lives
and I’ve never seen him when he has died
but I suspect he lives and dies in the trees.

Bob Boyd

Taisan Fukon no Sai
ancient, magical spell
concocted by Taoists
named after a mountain god
alleged to do the following:
save one from death
extend a lifespan
raise the dead
with secret rituals
specific items
like gold, silver and silk
et cetera
and paper dolls
all offered to the gods.

Bob Boyd