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Sympathy for the Devil

 Sympathy  for the Devil 'But what's puzzling you  Is the nature of my game' Actually, the nature of Lucifer’s game, or Mara as he is known in the Buddhist world, is not puzzling at all. Buddha and God, we can argue, are somehow different, but the nature of the Devil is very much the same — a great ego, the greatest ego imaginable. There is nothing else to his game. Actually, I am not sure why I am being sexist here. It seems that traditionally in major religions the demonic nature has often been identified as male. I guess it is because men are more associated with doing and showing off along the way. Nowadays, with women taking a more prominent role in the art of showing off, there is no need for discrimination. We can even say that Mara sounds very feminine in Slavic languages. So Luciferette and Mara can be female as well. In fact, in the films ‘The Passion of Christ’ and ‘The Ninth Gate’ Satan was played by a woman and I think that looked rather powerful. Whether a w...
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The Run-away Brain


Doesn't this look to you like a gigantic brain, irresponsibly left by its owner in the garden? It moves slowly towards the perils of the ocean. There is a small rope, most likely put there to prevent it of running away, although its presence looks purely symbolic. 

For me, this is a great metaphor for our minds. Left out there, unprotected by anything, but our meek gestures of morality, moving slowly to the perils of the ocean of our disturbing emotions. Our anger and greed, loosely tied by the rickety rope of the possibility of social exclusion, our jealousy, painted over by our pride and reluctance to be seen by others as weak, are the only fences. 
That pretence does not protect our mind but we chose to believe that it will. Putting around it the strong chains of moral discipline and mindfulness takes a lot of effort. Most people will just say, 'Let it run free!'.
Our mind, that boulder, will not cause any damage to the ocean, of course, but when it comes tumbling down, it will break into pieces, crushing and dragging everything in its way.




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  1. Anonymous31 March 2023 at 09:16

    Thank goodness for our lamas, and the dharma that teaches — in its own timeless way — humility, devotion and care, to the rock in that poem, so that it can turn back into sand then merge with the sea. Perhaps only another few million lifetimes 🙏🏽

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    1. Anonymous31 March 2023 at 17:09

      Indeed! But that is another story…

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