What emerged was (at the start) a religion
almost entirely devoid of each of the... ingredients,
without which we would suppose that religion could not take root.....

1. Buddha preached a religion devoid of authority....
2. Buddha preached a religion devoid of ritual....
3. Buddha preached a religion that skirted speculation....
4. Buddha preached a religion devoid of tradition....
   
5. Buddha preached a religion of intense self-effort....¹
   

LIV i

He reads of zen masters
and ponders language,
nuance and
the perception
of perception.

There is what is
hidden
in plain sight.

There is
empty authority
bound to followers
who grant,
on faith,
full disclosure.

And the ritual involved, well
he doesn't get it.
He doesn't even speculate
on the value
bound
in spells
and incantations.

Tradition though
is a tough one to toss
over and forget.

The binding
is in the creating
of predictability.
Intense
self-effort
leads to the endless loop.
Bad karma.

6. Buddha preached a religion devoid of the supernatural.
     He condemned all forms of divination, soothsaying,
     and forecasting as low arts, and,
     though he concluded from his own experience
     that the human mind was capable of powers
     now referred to as paranormal,
     he refused to allow his monks to play around with those powers.¹

LIV ii

What is religion
without authority?
And without ritual?
He edged toward speculation.
Non-traditional perhaps
but caught in self-effort -
intense, supernatural....

Then he awoke
to belief
without divination.
What does it add
when the fact
and its mystery
have been
demonstrated and
shown to be beyond speculation?
Nothing but a rabbit hole lies ahead
in purposeless speculation.

He turned,
walked away.
Content.

There is what is.
What else could be added?
Why?

Leaves laugh in the wind.
Sun light sways among the tree branches.
Flowers dance.
He hums, quietly cheerful
in this moment.