Vajra Guru I present you my love Uncontrived, pure and deathless All that is perceived by my body Is my offering to your Vajra body All that sounds is my song to your heart My breath and my mind is manifested only for your joy I have no desires of my own No memories nor […]
poetry
Black Sun
Black sun of my core The agonies of ruined loves belong to you The loss of my only child Is the shadow that falls Since there is light I do not deny you For I know you are a deft master No one can avoid you Or hide from you You are the lord at […]
Bodh Gaya
A poem about the life of the Blessed One. By Tom Donovan It is a place and nothing more, No different to behold despite particulars Than any village in the district. Still it is here, In the public park, Under the pipal tree, On my mat of kusa grass, I have apprehended the sorrow Of […]
I was Siddhartha’s Mother
They carried me into the forest. The sal trees, shaken by our clamour Showered small soft flowers on us. The trees’ slender trunks rose column-like Into the leaves, and everywhere, that scent. He was born on a floor of petals. Later, he will talk about impermanence: Bodies are flowers, fading. Faded, the newborn.
Devotion to the Guru
Padma Drolma And if in all the beads nothing comes up I won’t forget you I’ll give another turn Despite my thousand stumbles For I know that thin are the lines which separate mastery from fear They are tiny and do not define Space is the shelter that does not welcome It afflicts me […]
Amitabha All Around Me
Massimo Claus Amitabha is to me the air I breathe, the sounds I hear, the colors I see, the music of the sea, the chant of a child. I saw Amitabha among the flowers of a cherry-tree and in my stupidity feeding my fears. Shandao is His hand approaching me, so I chant the Sacred […]
This is just to say
Ratnadevi I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold By William Carlos Williams I was reminded of this poem recently when it was recited in the film Paterson, by Jim Jarmusch. The movie is as […]
Good Question, Good Quest
Steve Braff A sense of ease this settling down wonderfully absent worry. Till I feel the old hunger to capture and codify to make it all ways always mine. And in this very grasp to witness the diminution of that subtle grace.
Border Dancer
Steve Braff – to 4/4 swing at a 140 tempo – Left Deer Gods’ land by way Siddhartha cemented Highway six lanes south bused on bumpy from Lumbini Buddha born by Maya Devi hip right holy to Shravasti hit the border, pay the Levi waiting, waiting toll booth stall India sign some four foot small […]
A Monkey’s Tale Retold
Steve Braff It is said that in the ninth year of the Buddha’s ministry a quarrel arose between two parties of monks. One party consisted of experts in the disciplinary code, or the Vinaya laws; the others were experts in the Dharma, or the teachings. The Buddha tried to settle the quarrel peacefully, but finally, when his […]