The Beast That Lurks Within

What darkness lurks within the depths of man……..

Rip away the social face,

Tear off the generations of social conditioning,

And what do you find?

The slavering beast that lurks within……….

See the momentary glint in the eye as a pretty girl walks by,

The violent lurch within the breast as the car cuts in front,

The first tendency toward total immorality as a fistful of money is offered……

See the mob violence take over with little incitement…..

Crazed soldiers committing rape and genocide in the name of their culture,

Jealousy and hate in the eyes of those left without on the streets,

Fear and anger of those with as they avoid the eyes of those without.

The secrecy and concealment of truth by the politicians……

Who do nothing but profit from their glibness,

The repressed anger of the masses who bury their head in the sand,

And then allow their anger to be directed to those who are not at fault.

“It’s war out there man…….” cries the man with frightened eyes…….

As he trains himself and others to kill destroy and maim to protect themselves,

Becoming what they fear most and destroying the only hope for peace within,

Sow the seeds and reap the fruit, train like a maniac and become one…….

So the wafer thin veneer of man’s social conditioning starts to crack…..

And the slavering beast starts to roar………….

The dark forces of the earth nail man’s soul to the cross,

And his agonised screams can be heard for an eternity……..

While standing in the darkness and screaming I think “is this it?”

And realise that I cannot stand and scream for ever,

And think “what is this beneath my feet……

Surely there cannot be more………”

And I realise that there is nothing beneath my feet,

And in nothingness no thing can exist……

I sink into no thing ness and realise that the slavering beast did not belong to me……….

He roamed between my mind and emotions and I fed him.

Whenever I fed the beast, he stayed and wanted more……….

Whenever I fed fear, I became more frightened,

Whenever I fed anger, I became more angry,

Whenever I fed lust, I became more lust driven…….

In no thing ness, where the beast could not go, wisdom spoke to me…..

“Do not feed the beast”, he said.

When I arose from extinction to distinction I looked the beast in the eye….

“I know who you are” I said evenly…….

The beast looked downcast and left.

He continues to batter at my door in the realms of distinction,

But always gets an empty plate.

My Karate technique is skilled in no thing ness,

And my opponent receives an empty plate.

The Warrior stands with one foot in extinction and the other in distinction,

He greets the slavering beast with austerity and discipline,

He has no fear of death as he already resides there,

He lets go of the fires of life as they are impermanent,

When they go out and yet he remains, this is known as Nirvana.

His opponent finds no place in which to impale his spear,

No way in which to wound his pride,

Nothing that he can steal to fuel his anger,

And no thing that he can do to feed his fear.

The Warrior stands in the timeless zone,

And speaks with those that have been and those who have yet to become,

They speak in a language that uses no words,

In a timeless Ryu that can only be penetrated by an empty plate…….

Take heart if you find that you are only screaming in the dark,

Because the first step is to know that this is what you are doing,

When you stop, you will discover that all that is left is just an echo,

And you will find spaces in between the screams.

In one of these spaces and when the beast has wandered off with a sated appetite,

Look around to find nothing, be careful because nothing is easy to miss…..

Descend into no thing ness and discover the gateway to the universe.

Do not be deceived by mental constructions as the beast is fond of illusions….

The Warriors quest is for truth.

For he believes in nothing.