Bodh Gaya
SUNDAY POEM
BODH GAYA
So this is where you sat,
having vowed not to move
until you’d grasped what you were looking for–
the root of human suffering.
To see things as they are. Girders
of life, architecture of light
underlying all creation. You met
demons, temptresses, your own
body’s fearful trembling, heartbeat
slipping sideways into a crack of time
no bigger than a sliver, torso held upright
by implacable will. So you sat,
vision turned inward, cross-legged
in the shade of this Bodhi tree. Emerged
at last from your long quest, simooms
blowing through the sockets of your eyes.
Stripped to the bones, this
is what you saw. All phenomena annicca–
impermanent as a flower,
death sprouting darkly with the seed.
Sunyata–emptiness–at the heart of all
being. You smiled,
offered a lotus blossom to your faithful disciple
in lieu of a doctrine.
Now, 2400 years later, an adamant temple
towers hundreds of feet into the dusty ochre sky
of Bodh Gaya. Carved with images of your face,
your serene smile repeated over
and over, ubiquitous as the Golden
Arches. Your radical discovery of nothingness
is surrounded now by an economic empire.
Priests, pilgrims, vendors of yak tea
and prayer flags. Rivers of coins empty
into temple coffers. Young Tibetan monks
perform a hundred thousand prostrations
in the cobbled walkway,
kneepads and mittens cushioning the scrape
of shale on flesh. Enlightenment
without dukkha. And you smile, oh Buddha,
at these lonely stances on the rim
of the Great Void.
………………………………………..
As always, I’d love to hear your own poems, thoughts and insights in Comments. Let’s share the voices of our hearts together.
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There’s a dog in my car
Smiling as he breathes
Wind is everywhere
I’m in a dog hair snow globe
And I like it
Mona, your poem made me laugh out loud. I can see that dog-hair snow-globe car, and you, and the wind everywhere! :-)
Ahhh, Hiro. This is so lovely. We’re all looking for enlightenment without dukkha, aren’t we? The magic bullet? The gain without pain? What’s hard is being compassionate with yourself when you realize you’re doing it. Again.
A haiku in response to your post, Mona’s poem, and the little guy on the couch right now:
A wish for myself?
Enlightened as Buddha and
Relaxed as my cat.
Thank you, Michelle. Cats are natural Buddhas, yes?
xo Hiro
Thank you for this today, Hiro. As I mentioned in my tweets to you, I have not touched poetry in like 17 years! Wow.
When I was a teen and quite depressed I wrote many poems. But I think poetry and sadness and pain got linked up in my mind and as I grew up and out of the depression, I stayed away from poems. They meant pain. Suffering. Sadness.
My new choice though, is that I have a wonderful relationship with poems, and rediscover the poet in me that can speak of happy, joyful, life-giving things. Like dog hair snow globes! And to rediscover that poetry and I can be terrific friends even when I’m happy and grateful for my life.
Sharing this poem with you here today was the start. And our friend Jen Louden has given me some links of non-sucky, non-depressing poets that I can read as I rekindle my friendship with poems too.
So thank you for Poetry Sunday on your blog. I wouldn’t have written a poem if you hadn’t extended the invitation. xoxo
Poetry is the voice of the heart, and it sings of whatever moves it.
Mona, I’m so happy you’re reconnecting with poetry, singing the songs and stories that live in you. I hope you’ll visit here each Sunday and share your poems.
There’s so much gorgeous, celebratory poetry to discover! Wishing you the great delight of finding poems you love.
I’ve been trying to think of something witty and intelligent to say, but I just keep coming back to beautiful and profound. Because this is.
Thank you, Jane, for saying what you truly feel. And for your kind words.