The core meaning of the poems has to do with "dirtying the dirt". Though Christianity is represented in the characters of Adam and Eve, the poems are based on Buddhist ideas, the central idea of Buddhism being "all life is suffering" and secondarily "suffering is caused by clinging or grasping". Clinging and grasping are more familiarly known by other names: Greed, Hate, Delusion, Ignorance, Desire.

Adam and Eve were doing just fine with their unquestioning faith in The Big Man Upstairs until Desire stepped in. In Buddhist terms, we all do just fine until we distort our reality by our attraction to, or revulsion for, objects of our attention. Adam and Eve fell into the desire trap, in the poems exemplified by Adam's desire for sexual gratification in and of itself, and his desire for Eve and the apple.

In Buddhist terms, Adam and Eve lost there ability to see things "as they are", to see the "suchness" of things as Buddhists put it. Seeing things "as they are" is an enlightened view, equal to living in Heaven on Earth, Paradise. This direct experience of the true nature of oneself and all forms of life only arises from Non-Attachment, when one is free from Desire. It is this seemingly impossible goal of Detachment from Desire that people from many spiritual/aesthetic/religious backgrounds seek to accomplish. In Zen this goal is called the "goalless goal" because enlightment comes only by "not doing", "not seeking", for doing and seeking are ultimately actions based on Desire, on grasping after something, and thus perpetuate the endless chain of suffering.

In Zen, this "not doing" or "not seeking" is accomplished by zazen or "just sitting", the Japanese name for sitting meditation. In the Soto sect of Zen, one of the two main sects of Zen practiced today (the other being Rinzai), there are no mantras, nothing to visualize during meditation, no goals other than to sit silently in a yogic posture following the breath and allowing the thoughts and feelings which arise to do just that, arise, and consequently disappear.

By "just sitting", one comes to realize and accept the transitory nature of thoughts and feelings which arise and disappear like inhalation/exhalation of breath, like the life/death of all things. With this realization one's identification with the "I", or ego loosens, and an impartial view of the mind's true and straightforward identity, that of a sense organ of cognition, arises. The "you" which experiences the truth behind the transitory nature of the physical world is the essential dynamic force that you "truly" are, the essence which underlies the apparent reality of all physical things.

You can see that Zen is not about words describing Reality, which are inadequate, but the direct experience of Reality.

Before the "fall" from Grace in the Garden, Adam and Eve knew no distinction of "this" and "that", all was God, themselves included. There was no perception of "I" and other than "I". As soon as the fig leaves came down, when Eve handed over the apple or herself and Adam responded, it was all over, and the grasping after things began. In Adam's case in the poem, he was after his own Skin Serpent and Eve's Booty - self and sexual gratification.

It may be of some interest to note that the person known as Shakyamuni Buddha, a prince of the Shakya clan in Northern India, lived 2500 years before Jesus and 1000 years before the Book of Genesis was written down by Moses. Genesis, of course, includes the story of Adam and Eve.
Needless to say, Adam and Eve didn't really start or save suffering, they just kept it well-oiled and primed for the 3500 years (and counting) of shakin' n' bakin' to come. However, if one thinks of the Garden as Ground Zero for Human Life as we know it, then Desire hs been a snake wrapped around our necks for all time.

Darwinists would say the human desire for sex, violence and power is possibly the key to our evolution, besides our opposable thumbs and super-size frontal lobes. The question is: Are we still evolving, or has Desire's presence in our bodies and minds condemned the human race to a progressive de-evolution? If you've watched the news or left your home in the past five years, that answer should be pretty clear.

Thus ends today's lesson. Eat the grasshopper from my hand. Notice it is crunchy and does not taste like chicken.
-Master Hwing Po

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