When the mind runs rampant

Pervasive suffering

When the mind runs rampant
What kind of dream suffering is this?

It's like driving on a freeway.
The details are lost in the rush.

We leap from one thought to another
Like a rabbit chased by a weasel. 

It's like being tied up in a movie theater
A foot away from the screen.

If it's a good place 
It's slightly forced and sickly sweet

If it's bad
It's a hellish confused madness

And if we should find ourselves in heaven? 
We grasp and it is gone forever.

If you try to shut the dream down it reminds you 
Of your overwhelming desire or your terrible fear.

We race oblivious toward death
A year is gone in a week, an hour passes in a second

The present moment is lost.
Look for it, and it instantly transmutes back into the dream.

This ignorance is embedded deep in the flesh
Can I cut it out like a surgeon or rip it out?

Somewhere within the nightmare the Dharma waits.
But where is it?




4/19/25