Tai Chi

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Buddha eats brownies.

Flour, eggs and
Chocolate combined.
Doesn’t sound so divine.

Toss in some nuts,
And that’s as close to
Heaven as it cuts.

Brownies,
Such an ordinary treat,
Available to every man In the street.
Yet brownies
Buddha Eats.   

The Enlightened One,
Who’s seen Godly Mysteries unfold.
Treasured truths he is Told.

He carries these gifts
Without detection.
So demure, only God knows the depth
Of all that he knows.  

But just mention the Word brownie,
And his smile spreads
Across the globe.  

Buddha Eats Brownies

The inspiration for this poem came during my certification as an instructor for Dr Paul Lam’s Tai Chi for Arthritis program.  We were planning for the two-day workshop and deciding what food to bring to nourish ourselves during the breaks.  There were to be fruits, water, bran muffins, pita chips and spread.  The Master Trainer asked if someone would bring brownies.

I was quite stunned to hear such an enlightened man ask for brownies.  What really struck me was the way he asked for the brownies.  His whole body became animated as a child reciting a Christmas wish list.

I had spent several years practicing Tai Chi with him.  I admired his aura of peace and deliciously devoured the nuggets of wisdom he was constantly dropping.  I assumed he was above brownies.

I never really thought about the diet of an enlightened being. Perhaps one spends the days eating humus and living off holy water and scared scriptures.  After all, John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey, Moses was fed manna from heaven, Elijah found cakes baking on a rock and Jesus had meat to eat that we knew not of.

Brownies are just not exotic. Their lack of mystique caused me to reflect on how I had romanticized enlightenment, levitating yogis, ostentatious ceremonies, glowing auras, and walking on water.

I realized that while looking for the awe, I put God so far off when in fact we can see his face in the simplest things.  Yes, even in brownies.
 
When we recognize God as the source of all, then everything and everybody become divine.  I am the alpha and the omega (cause and effect). Revelations 1:8

In my moments of meditation I don’t hear thundering voices or psychedelic colors.  I feel alertness or at times a sense of peace or a warm glow.  God is there.

I feel the activity of God during Tai Chi stepping.  When I drop the heel, root, shift the weight, I feel a surge of energy as if atoms were bursting up my leg.  When a driver stops and lets me cross the rush–hour traffic, I know God is there.  I see the face of God in my students’ smiles.

See the Divine in everything, everybody and every situation. We miss life’s greatest joys because we’re looking for fireworks.  But God can be found in the simplest of things.