War and Peace

“When in danger, all that matters

is there be true sincerity.”

The Buddhist I Ching , Hexagram 29

 

The sage says

That peace breeds

Carelessness.

 

For do people

Used to peace,

To peace addicted,

Know of dangers

That teem in peace?

 

So many egregious evils

Are errors repeated,

Endlessly dragged

Along with us

From the unlearned

Past that hasn’t found

Its peace true yet.

 

But do men to war

Addicted care

About peace?

Or do they know

 

Or care about

How to discern

Real peace

And peace

Of carelessness?

 

For what is man

But a set of grooves

With confined truth

Overlaid with

Deep-pressed ruts

 

Made of errors, ills,

Compulsively claimed

To be what one is,

The very self as code

And one’s own life?

 

But if there’s sincerity,

Then clarity and love

Would get one through.

 

And so, both war and peace

Try to goad mankind to wisdom

Like obstinate, defiant mules,

 

Ever trying to be way too wise

Without being sincere

And if ever sincere

Then only by mistake

Or without meaning to be such.

 

Although insincerity

Can never lead

Anyone to wisdom.

 

And neither can there ever be

Any true peace without truth

Or without our truthfulness

Or without our due attention to

Both to the truth and our errors,

Or without honesty in hearts

 

For any insincere

And, therefore, untrue peace

Can never be anything

But a never-ending war’s

Deferment or extension.

 

How could we ever

Win ourselves wisdom

If not by practicing truthfulness?

 

For sincere means truthfulness.

And without truthfulness

How could we ever hope to rise

To the presence of the soul?