{"id":2364,"date":"2024-09-15T00:54:07","date_gmt":"2024-09-15T00:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/?p=2364"},"modified":"2024-09-15T00:54:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-15T00:54:08","slug":"the-cost-of-emptiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/2024\/09\/15\/the-cost-of-emptiness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cost of Emptiness"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span>\n<p>Bushels of Buddhas, \u00a0<br>Stacked in rows on silent stone, \u00a0<br>Truth lost, sold for gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suffering blooms here, \u00a0<br>In the chase for more and more, \u00a0<br>Never satisfied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I stand in silence, \u00a0<br>Surveying myself in rows, \u00a0<br>My likeness for sale. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Plastic\u00a0 belly,<br>A thousand faces, all mine\u2014 \u00a0<br>Yet none of them me<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I lift one gently, \u00a0<br>Fingers trace the hollow curve, \u00a0<br>Where is the spirit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Compassion branded, \u00a0<br>My smile reduced to a grin, \u00a0<br>Empty as the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yet I wonder, \u00a0<br>Do they seek me in this clay, \u00a0<br>Or just a token?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To buy myself now, \u00a0<br>Is this the path to release, \u00a0<br>Or the bind of greed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clinging to what fades, \u00a0<br>They hope to fill the hollow, \u00a0<br>But emptiness reigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This endless craving, \u00a0<br>More Buddhas bought, none are found\u2014 \u00a0<br>They grasp at shadows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the open air, \u00a0<br>Breezes whisper truth I know\u2014 \u00a0<br>Nothing lasts, not even me. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I smile once again, \u00a0<br>Not for the market, or coin, \u00a0<br>But for the void&#8217;s laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Assist by ChatGPT<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span>Bushels of Buddhas, \u00a0Stacked in rows on silent stone, \u00a0Truth lost, sold for gold. Suffering blooms here, \u00a0In the chase for more and more, \u00a0Never satisfied. I stand in silence, \u00a0Surveying myself in rows, \u00a0My likeness for sale. \u00a0 A Plastic\u00a0 belly,A thousand faces, all mine\u2014 \u00a0Yet none of them me I lift one gently, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2365,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364\/revisions\/2365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetembo.com\/clip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}