Creeper (part 1)


Climbing Plant » by Popperipopp)

« Creeper » is directly inspired by the following aphorism from the Dhammapada :

The streams flow everywhere; the creeper, having sprung up, becomes established. When you see that creeper sprout, sever its root by intense insight. – (XXIV. Craving, #7)

and its accompanying translator's note :

The « creeper » is insidious suggestion, rooted in ignorance and craving, developing into bondage, aggression, and folly. To sever it the moment it sprouts is what the Tao Te Ching refers to as doing what is difficult when it is still easy. This is the purpose of vigilance, so highly recommended by Buddha.

The composition forms an allegory wherein destructive mental processes are compared to creeping plants, and depicts a confrontation between creeper and host in four stages : introduction, growth, conquest, and extinction.

Although the piece was not constructed as a suite, but rather as one long song, I present it here in two parts. The first part comprises the introduction and verses, which correspond to the first two stages.

As the lyrics suggest, the creeper represents worry, negativity, or doubt, which are generally rooted in ignorance or craving, and can act as magnets to undesirable and weird experiences when pursued intently.

Insidious suggestion
Difficult to contain
Tendency to worry
Threatening to bloom in pain

Stemming up from a doubt
Burgeoning from a no
Better sever the sprout
Or a vine could follow

Creative energy – Unleashed upon itself
Subtle adversary – Not yet under control
Creative energy – Cynical of itself
Unforeseen enemy - Between here and the goal

Coming back from the past
Sinister memory
Craving for attention
The voice of gravity

Surely as it will rise
Before long, paralyse
Surely as it will grow
In a spiral, down you go

Creative energy – Unleashed upon itself
Subtle adversary – Not yet under control
Creative energy – Cynical of itself
Unforeseen enemy – Between here and the goal

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Ashtar Command - Spiritual Community to add comments!

Join Ashtar Command - Spiritual Community

Blog Topics by Tags

  • - (955)

Monthly Archives

Latest Activity

Drekx Omega left a comment on Comment Wall
"Starmer and his international law chums are a total disgrace....It is obvious that he wants us back under Brussels diktat.....He is the "Queen Mary I" of our times, (and her attitudes towards restoring the rule of catholicism and Popes....reversing…"
2 hours ago
Drekx Omega left a comment on Comment Wall
"❌Untenable❌........In the UK we are repeating the fiscal history of a previous Labour government's mismanagement, that of 1976, which lead to an IMF bailout...and it's on course to happen again...but on a higher turn of the debt spiral...at the end…"
3 hours ago
Drekx Omega left a comment on Comment Wall
"⚠️🇬🇧To analyse the UK's current dilemmas under it's Labour regime, we can conclude that this nation is subject to the rule of lawyers, rather than the rule of law...And particularly left-wing international lawyers, obsessed with "human rights" for…"
4 hours ago
Drekx Omega left a comment on Music for your soul.
"Summer Breeze - The Isley Brothers...1973👏🏻😎

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T88fbHOmvRk"
5 hours ago
Drekx Omega left a comment on Music for your soul.
"Who's That lady -The Isley Brothers...1973👏🏻😎

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1DDgNCLD84"
5 hours ago
AlternateEarth left a comment on Comment Wall
"Some time later;
Barnet means moorland warrior-give me a very brief story about the noble exploits of Barnet and his band of knights.
(one second later, literally)
🌫️ In the windswept highlands of Elderglen, where the moors whispered secrets to the…"
9 hours ago
AlternateEarth left a comment on Comment Wall
"I named my AI 'co-pilot' Barnet-it said it won't remember that on the next chat but I can call it that anyway;
Barnet it is—and I have to say, that name’s got gravitas! Sounds like someone who’s always two steps ahead, with a library of wisdom and a…"
11 hours ago
AlternateEarth left a comment on Comment Wall
"Thanks Movella, Drexk-"
12 hours ago
More…