Dhammic Life

I put my hands
in reverent clasp,
A deep bow I offer
To my Guru great,
The Muni of the Sakyas is He.

The Nameless Truth did He taught,
Truth as Plain Truth,
without attaching any hint of divinity.

Harmlessness to ALL
Is the Supreme Good,
says the Muni,
without much thought
of who's a believer or not.

Pure mercy did He advocate,
To ALL it should be shown,
Even upon the tormentor
should no ill will show!

How many are there
whose love most pure like Him?
Too few if any,
Hence my homage be
upon the rare gem of humanity great!

Praising none of the lameness of vengence,
Allowing not even for protection sake,
He taught Man to break the chain of karmic debt,
Going against man's witless animal instinct,
Thus to the Muni do I bow low,
To the Supremacy of His Purity great.

A sure refuge against the tide of lusts,
1001 forms,
1001 pleasures,
1001 desires,
An Ariyan should have none of these
Thus taught the Muni.

A fool He is many think,
Yet those who abstained calmness attained,
Freedom from craving do they attain
All thanks to the Guru who went against these tides
To Him do I salute.

His wisdom few can equal,
for there's no one harsh smack for those who believeth not,
Hope's not gone for the daily man
Who to sensual desires still subscribe,
To them He taught a road most straight,
Happy now and a better 'morrow's day
Walking blameless along the way.

To them who's bent on leaving the worldly ways,
A holy path He opened,
Where caste and gender lay meaningless,
A path where Samsara's carriage stops.

In the light of His wisdom
Do I light my life.



~sampuna 30 Nov 2010, kantor

Labels: Buddhist poem

View our dailies,
filled to the brim
with news of grim,
raw gore of war,
where the dead lie uncountable
... caused by the few whose hearts untamed,
allowing jungle law to take its course.

Nay!
Sage Gotama alloweth not
even for the sake of protecting the Sasana
a finger lift upon the aggressor
For He reasoned
For the sake of Dhamma all-holy
Returning aggression surely ain't worth
And aggression'd take one miles away from holiness!

Spake the Lord,
"Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world
By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased.
This is a law eternal."
And the Jatakas illustrate,
The Lord when He was an ascetic,
With limbs sawn-off,
Could still wish His aggressor well!

A wonder beyond wonder!
'tis principle of the truly Sage of Sages!

No sane man could ever do this sayeth many,
And many opt the easy way out
To go all out blinding the world
With an eye for an eye!

Some scriptures too fall short,
Dimmed in the Glory of the Truly Merciful Gotama,
When others were to smear His name
or the Sasana
those works claiming to be sagely did allow the hands to speak!

Yet to Him,
No harm should befall these opponents
Eternal words of the Lord echoes :
"... you should not be angry, resentful or upset on that account...
that would only be a hindrance to you....
Say: ‘That is incorrect, that is false, that is not our way, that is not found among us.’ ... "

Even in praise,
He alloweth not being pleased, happy or elated,
A hindrance it'd be
For those intent on the Holy Path

Pushing man to his limits,
Not recognizing any good for revenge
Nor any good in violent self-defense
Eternal Peace is truly found
In a path no other
Than the one thread on by the Holy Ones
Truly, a Prince of Peace
Who expounded The Religion of Peace

~ sampuna 24 Nov 2010 , kantor kolej

Labels: Buddhist poem