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POETRY
INTRODUCTION
Although I am not a particular poetry-lover, below texts do carry special meaning
to me.
Be they Buddhist or not, they convey some essential wisdom for me.
Most of below stunning photos are from Geoff
Wise and are visual poetry to me, enjoy!
When your mind becomes motionless
and the brilliant eyes of the peaceful mind
take a straight look down into the depth of your heart
you will see the life-force pulsating and thriving
in the warmth of pure love.
As you experience this pure love
what we all call "heart"
beams of light will begin to radiate from the center of it
for heaven is there in eternity.
If you can release this radiance of love
and allow it to flow through you,
your heart will become light.
The spirit will get liberated into the air
and then, from a place of inner stillness
you will know what it would be like
to be an eagle and soar in the evening skies.
And most of all,
you would understand
what it would be like
to be perfectly sane.
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PEACE IS EVERY STEP
by Thich Nhat-Hanh
Peace is every step.
The shining red sun is my heart.
Each flower smiles with me.
How green, how fresh all that grows.
How cool the wind blows.
Peace is every step.
It turns the endless path to joy.
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IF
Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head,
When all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat these two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: `Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
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AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE CHAPTERS
Portia Nelson
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1) I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost...
I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
2) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
3) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in...it's a habit
My eyes are open; I know where I am;
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
4) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
5) I walk down another street.
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QUIETNESS
Rumi; Translated by Coleman Barks |
Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You're covered with thick clouds.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you've died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.
The speechless full moon
comes out now. |
TODAY
Vijaya Samarawickama, A Buddhist Reflects on Happy Living, 2004
This day is a special day, it is yours.
Yesterday slipped away, it cannot be filled anymore with meaning.
About tomorrow nothing is known.
But this day, today, is yours, make use of it.
Today you can make someone happy.
Today you can help another.
This day is a special day, it is yours.
LOVE
Gurulugomi (Buddhist Sage~12th Century AD)
 If
you develop love truly great,
rid of the desire to hold and possess.
That strong, clean love untarnished by lust,
that love which does not expect to be repayed,
that love which is firm but not grasping,
enduring but not tied down,
gentle and settled,
diamond-hard but unhurting,
helpful but not interfering,
cool and refreshing,
giving more than taking,
dignified but not proud,
soft but not weak,
that love which leads to Enlightenment,
then you will be washed of all ill-will.
DESENSITIZATION
By 'Tykal'
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| the child
after realizing its mother
had led it astray
since the first
lessons in thought:
"why did you lie to me?"
"because I did not know a lie
could look and feel to the senses
like an absolute truth"
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LET'S NOT BLOW IT
Public Service Annoucement By Homer Groening (1967)
There are millions of years in the past
There are millions of years ahead of us
And here we are
Right in the middle
Then there's space
There are miles and miles of space in all directions
And here we are
Right in the middle
This is a big deal
Being in the middle of time and space
It sort of makes your eyes water
We'd never find this moment again
In a million years
This is our world
Let's not blow it
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WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU
Lyrics; George Harrison, 1967
We were talking - about the space between us all
And the people - who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth - then it's far too late - when they pass
away.
We were talking - about the love we all could share - when we find
it
To try our best to hold it there - with our love
With our love - we could save the world - if they only knew.
Try to realise it's all within yourself no-one else can make you
change
And to see you're really only very small,
And life flows on within you and without you.
We were talking - about the love that's gone so cold and the people,
Who gain the world and lose their soul - they don't know - they can't
see - are you one of them?
When you've seen beyond yourself - then you may find, peace of mind
is waiting there -
And the time will come when you see we're all one, and life flows
on within you and without you.
BETTER
From the Dhammapada
 Better
than a thousand
Hollow words
Is one word that brings peace.
Better than a thousand
Hollow verses
Is one verse that brings peace.
Better than a hundred
Hollow lines
Is one line of the law, Bringing peace.
It is better to conquer yourself
Than to win a thousand battles;
Then the victory is yours.
You don't have to do anything with your mind,
just let it naturally rest in it's essential nature.
Your own mind, unagitated, is reality.
Meditate on this without distraction.
Know the Truth beyond all opposites.
Thoughts are like bubbles that form and dissolve in clear water.
Thoughts are not distinct from the absolute Reality,
so relax, there is no need to be critical.
Whatever arises, whatever occurs,
simply don't cling to it, but immediately let it go.
What you see, hear, and touch are your own mind.
There is nothing but mind.
Mind transcends birth and death.
The essence of mind is pure Consciousness that never leaves reality,
even though it experiences the things of the senses.
In the equanimity of the Absolute, there is nothing to renounce or attain.
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SPIRITUAL LIFE IS A LIFE OF SEARCH
By Swami Ramakrishnananda
Spiritual life is a life of search...but a true search.
Not to investigate and to seek what you hope to discover,
Not the object of your aspiration,
But what you are.
Meditation is just a search for the meditator.
Enlightenment is to discover...
To discover that there is no discoverer, and there is nothing to discover...
Enlightenment is to be.
To be the most wonderful discovery of what can not be found.
It is to arrive to no where...
To meet no one.
You fail, because of your habit to search only for that which satisfies
your needs.
Get rid of all this need. 
And you will see...
Get rid of all that you have.
And you will see...
Throw away all that can be thrown.
And you will see...
Give up these words, and what they make you feel
And you will see...
Give up your attempt to give up.
And you will see...
Give up your attempt to see.
Because then you will really see...
The farther the object you search for, the better eyesight you need.
That which is closest to you, you have to be.
| PRECONCEPTIONS
by Milarepa
Just as fog is dispelled by the strength of the sun
and is dispelled no other way,
preconception is cleared by the strength of realization.
There's no other way of clearing preconceptions.
Experience them as baseless dreams.
Experience them as ephemeral bubbles.
Experience them as insubstantial rainbows.
Experience them as indivisible space.
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TAKE HEART
by Jennifer Edwards
But also
take comfort, healing, rest and love
Leave sorrow
amongst the rocks and woods who most of the time
are far stronger
better able to handle such loads
Take courage
But also,
take honesty, courtesy, empathy and patience
Leave doubt
amidst the deep ocean waters
watch it sink there
until you cannot cling to it any longer
Take faith
but leave with an open mind, an open hand, open arms
Take whatever you need to make it through
leave what keeps you from going on
Tears only go so far
Fear only holds so long
Though your feet may bleed and your hands, tremble
Take deep compassion for the suffering of another
and journey on
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SPEAKING TRUTH
By Jesa MacBeth
It is possible to speak truth in anger.
When so done, people tend to hear the anger and not the truth.
It is possible to speak truth in arrogance.
When so done, people tend to hear the arrogance
and not the truth.
It is possible to speak truth in deceitful ways.
When so done, people tend to sense the deceit
and take the truth for more deceit.
It is possible to speak truth in loving kindness.
When so done, people tend to hear the love and the truth.
Or so it seems in my experience. |
The Strength Of A Man
by Jacqueline Marie Griffiths
The strength of a man isn't seen in the width of his shoulders.
It's in the width of his arms that encircle you.
The strength of a man isn't in the deep tone of his voice.
It's in the gentle words he whispers.
The strength of a man isn't how many buddies he has.
It's how good of buddies he is with his children.
The strength of a man isn't in how respected he is at work.
It's in how respected he is at home.
The strength of a man isn't in how hard he hits.
It's in how tender he touches.
The strength in a man isn't in the hair on his chest.
It's in his Heart...that lies within his chest.
The strength of a man isn't how many women he's loved.
It's in can he be true to one woman.
The strength of a man isn't in the weight he can lift.
It's in the burdens he can carry.
© July 15, 1999 Jacqueline Marie Griffiths (written for Hunt D. Rochon)
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Poem
by Lama Gendun Rimpoche
Happiness is not to be found with many efforts or will, but
is here, nearby, in your relaxing and surrendering.
Don't worry, there is nothing to be done.
Everything that comes up to your mind has no importance because it has no
reality.
Don't conceive any attachment for it.
Don't judge yourself.
Let it be.
Let it come up and down without changing a thing.
It all vanishes and begins again, endlessly.
Nothing but the quest for happiness prevents us from seeing it.
It is like a rainbow that one is always chasing without ever reaching it.
It is because it has no existence.
It has always been here and goes with you all the time.
Don't believe in the reality of experiences, good or bad.
They are like rainbows.
Because we want to grasp what is not to be grasped,
We exhaust our strength in vain.
As soon as we relinquish our hold, space is here, open, welcoming & comfortable.
So, do enjoy it.
Everything is yours already.
Stop searching.
Don't go into the jungle to look for the elephant that is quietly waiting
for you at home.
There is nothing to do.
There is nothing to force.
There is nothing to desire.
And all comes by itself.
SONG OF THE DIAMOND
HEART
By G. Bluestone
The pine tree's voice is always whispering
Yet how many pause to listen?
For when the churning mind is still,
The Diamond Heart within
Reflects even the falling dusk that
Shrouds every eye and branch
And hears, but listens not.
Walking then, with Courage and Kindness,
Never ceasing to walk in Wonder,
We follow our ancient path.
For the Way of the sword is folded two;
Like the rose we have thorns,
And like the rose, we unfold
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LIFE
by Daisaku Ikeda
I will cast out
All the vagueness and indecision within me
Because my wish is to construct
The castle of my whole life
On the fulfillment of each promise that I make.
I want to live my life
As a surpassingly broadminded man
Known for being happy and honest
A person in whom people can have absolute trust.
I've put behind me
The age of dreaming about a rosy future
And with roots extended into life's reality
I realise that the power to create happiness
Derives from what we actually do today.
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A New House
by Jenifer Edwards
If I search your face only looking for my reflection
How can I see you as you really are
If I fill the hours with empty chatter
How can I hear you when you finally decide to talk
It is love, indeed
This that brings me to you
And this is why a new house needs to be built
With doors big enough for understanding and compassion to fit through |
The Crystal Winter
Depressing Yet So Blissful
As Frozen Tears Crash
CP
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Stop killing!
Chan Master Cloud of Vows (Song Dynasty)
For countless years the bitter stew of hate goes boiling on.
Its vengeful broth is ocean deep, impossible to calm.
To learn the cause of all this conflict,
Terror, bombs and war,
Listen to the cries at midnight by the butcher's door.
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Do not stand at my grave and weep
Mary Elizabeth Frye
- Do not stand at my grave and weep,
- I am not there, I do not sleep.
- I am in a thousand winds that blow,
- I am the softly falling snow.
- I am the gentle showers of rain,
- I am the fields of ripening grain.
- I am in the morning hush,
- I am in the graceful rush
- Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
- I am the starshine of the night.
- I am in the flowers that bloom,
- I am in a quiet room.
- I am in the birds that sing,
- I am in each lovely thing.
- Do not stand at my grave and cry,
- I am not there. I do not die.
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Last updated:
September 11, 2011
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