AWAKEN!
Prepare yourself for stormy weather;
You will be betrayed by those you trust,
You will become deathly ill,
You will find that peace you treasure
will be destroyed unexpectedly;
YOU MUST PREPARE!
Spiritual storms are on the way;
Above all else,
place this simple Aspiration to Awaken
above your crown,
above your knock-knock puddin-head,
this most important task,
as the very most precious
gem
ABOVE ALL ELSE!
If you do not wish to awaken,
Then bask in your suffering,
Allow all that stormy weather to sweep you away!
Wallow in the mud of your own delusions,
and don’t complain about it!
If you wish to be on the Spiritual Path,
Then you must
place awakening above all else,
as supremely necessary,
paramount,
as something vastly crucial,
by far the most
honest sacred genuine
way to help self and others;
Awakening is
the only beneficial achievement,
The only truly beneficial condition
that can remain,
By far the best way to utilize
these fading days
of this supremely rare lifetime,
where death is coming very fast;
Death is certain!
Throwing shit in the monkey house does not help;
Screaming at the other lunatics just raises many volumes;
Seeking a moment of peace during this stampede
Towards our inevitable demise
is a fool’s errand!
For once in your frivolous lifetime,
step onto the Spiritual Path,
discover reality itself,
Our Immeasurable Ultimate Reality;
You must awaken
or this perpetual cycle
will keep eating you alive!
AWAKEN!
AWAKEN!
AWAKEN!
A poem by Robert Aho © 2025
It’s one thing for me to say that you should meditate, it’s quite another for me to say that what you really need to do is to keep this Aspiration to Awaken above everything else. People, in general, can’t fathom what I am saying when I say that. Of a long list of priorities, it’s nearly inconceivable that this idea of sitting on a meditation cushion, gazing at mind until one awakens, can have much more importance than binge watching a soap opera from the eighties.
People look at meditation as just another thing to do, something like going fishing or attending a baseball game. If you haven’t examined the extreme futility of life, all the bad decisions leading nowhere, all the promises and lies this world has to offer, then you haven’t come to the point of stepping onto the Spiritual Path. We need to truly see the futility of cyclic existence.
Now, when I say that we need to place this Aspiration to Awaken above everything else, what I am insinuating is that it is completely possible, even likely, that everyone and everything in this world will disappoint you at some point. If your Aspiration to Awaken is not above all else, then you will quickly and easily abandon the Spiritual Path. It can happen quickly and without warning.
You must place the Aspiration to Awaken above fellow students of the Dharma, above your teachers, above any and all institutions. There’s a good chance that something might happen that will shake your resolve to awaken. You might be accused of something untrue by egotistical practitioners. Your teacher might not be who you thought he or she was, or might be caught up in scandal that may or may not be true. These sorts of things can cause your world to come tumbling down. You need the strength and perseverance to weather any and all storms.
As I’ve explained repeatedly, also in my books Timeless Luminosity and The Frog: A Spiritual Autobiography, Spanning Many Lifetimes, I was able to transform great adversity when it came my way. Because I had placed awakening above all else, it propelled my Spiritual Practice. I hold no animosity to those who wronged me, not my teacher or my fellow students. This seemingly unfortunate series of events made it possible for me to go at once to Dzogchen, thus helping me to regain my Spiritual Practice of many lifetimes. When others come by, trying to destroy my resolve to awaken, along with my resolve to help others awaken, it just makes me laugh. I’ve strengthened my spiritual foundation. My aspiration to awaken is unbreakable, mainly because I’ve been there, remaining in this knowledge.
Adversity in any form can propel your Spiritual Practice. My own illnesses propelled my practice at lighting speed. My own death was then utilized to help others awaken by letting them know what it is they must face, all the storms of their own mind, as well as all these tremendously violent storms in the energetic dimension. I hesitate to write about this in detail, because I’m not in the habit of causing fear. What we will most certainly face in the energetic dimension will terrify anyone who has not prepared by placing this Aspiration to Awaken above all else. We should also become prepared by learning to remain calm in all circumstances, and by letting go.
When we die, we discover that this thing called self is just an illusion; and, yet, here we are transmigrating, only to face new problems. We prepare our consciousness in such a way by holding awakening above all else. When we do so, our consciousness carries this into the next lifetime, even though the old self completely vanishes.
Awaken!
Blessings in Light,
Robert Aho