Zero Resistance (Upekkha)

Lyrics

[Intro]

In the clay oil lamp's flicker,
Jetavana Monastery, Savatthi, around 500 BCE,
Gautama sits, his breath steady at 4:00 AM.

[Verse 1]
You, small flame, dancing without fight,
in this pre-dawn chill of 18 degrees Celsius,
no resistance to the wind's whisper through bamboo screens.
Gautama watches you, his saffron robe folded neatly beside,
wooden begging bowl empty on the straw mat.
Your light touches the damp earth walls,
equanimity in every sway, Upekkha unfolding.

[Chorus]
Zero resistance, like neural pathways smoothing,
no friction in the synapse, just flow.
Upekkha, balanced heart, neither pull nor push,
in the brain's quiet network, equanimity holds.
Flame, you teach this, in your steady burn.

[Verse 2]
Remember the Dhammapada, verse 81, Acharya Buddharakkhita's words from 1985:
"Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the storm,
even so the wise are not affected by praise or blame."
You embody that, lamp, your wick soaked in sesame oil,
flickering yet unmoved, amid the scent of sandalwood and rain-soaked soil.
Gautama's mind, a mirror to your light,
practicing in the Majjhima Nikaya's discourse,
Sutta 62, translated by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli in 1995.

[Bridge]

What if the brain's default mode quiets like this,
epigenetic switches flipping to zero kelvin calm?
No storm shakes the place cells in hippocampus,
just your flame, addressing me now,
in this shared moment of non-action.

[Verse 3]
Monks tested Upekkha near charnel grounds,
observing decay, detachment from form.
You, flame, resist nothing, not even extinction,
as dawn warms to 30 degrees, light fading into day.
Gautama rises, bowl in hand, for alms of rice gruel.

[Chorus]
Zero resistance, like neural pathways smoothing,
no friction in the synapse, just flow.
Upekkha, balanced heart, neither pull nor push,
in the brain's quiet network, equanimity holds.
Flame, you teach this, in your steady burn.

[Outro]

In your flicker, I find it too,
zero resistance, Upekkha's sigh.