This poem is intended to support and inspire Jewish mindfullness and meditation practices by drawing on the commonality I see between Zen Buddhist and Jewish theologies. Inspired by the language of the Heart Sutra, it can be read silently to oneself or chanted as a group following or preceding meditation.
Oneness is Emptiness and Emptiness is oneness.
In Emptiness there are no feet, no sexes, no left hands, no right hands,
no hearts, no left shoulders, no right shoulders,
no voices, no eyes, no ears and no crowns.
All the sefirot are illuminated by emptiness.
There is no kingdom, no foundation, no splendour,
no eternity, no harmony, no severity,
no kindness, no knowledge, no understanding,
no wisdom and no transcendence.
Without any attributes for forming a self, the wise find a home in practicing their wisdom.
Seeing through inner shells, outer shells and divine sparks,
through the breath, the spirit and the soul,
through the positive and negative commandments,
beyond exile and indrawing,
beyond clean and unclean,
beyond Shabbat and the workday,
without attributes of a self and so without any fear.
Without universal providence, divine providence,
without absence of universal providence and without absence of divine providence,
breaking free from the wheel of multiplicity and unity,
the wise take refuge in seeing exactly what is:
without end, without end, completely without any end, Amen.
