2008/05/20

I wish...

I wish in Buddha's time I lived, knelt at His sacred feet,

Sought comfort in His serenity, basked in His radiance,

Rejoiced in His discourses, logical, compassionate,

Appealed to Him for counsel wise, gloried in His presence.

I wished I walked the paths He trod, the shady

groves He loved,

Shared the warmth He gladly gave to the world's

helpless ones,

His theory of impermanence, with superb skill conceived,

I wish I learnt when He did preach by cool

Himalayan streams.

The clarity of His speech and vision I wish I gathered first-hand,

Yielding answers to numerous ills of even modern man,

The kindness great He displayed both to friend and foe,

I've only heard of, never seen, greater is my woe.

God-like He was, yet claimed He not immortal power divine,

To other faiths be respectful, His followers He enjoined,

Feel free to think, be free to query, He urged men far and wide,

I wish I were His pupil then and He my master-guide.

I wish I had the fortune great to worship at His feet,

To lie prostrate and pay homage with flowers and incense sweet,

To listen as soothing sublime words flowed from

His noble lips

To comfort suffering mankind, show way to eternal bliss.

Warning against ignorance, which to craving leads,

Endorsing the Middle Path, avoiding all extremes,

Pointing out what self-reliance, mental purity means,

Embracing with a boundless love, all living sentient beings.

His message spread like summer lightning, no blood was ever shed,

Men of wisdom, intellect, bowed low in veneration,

Across the seas in diverse lands were former faiths renounced,

Splendid days they were indeed, I wish I was around.

A moral code, a philosophy deep, relevant for all time,

Conforming to laws of modern science, giving pre-eminence to mind,

Taught Gotama Buddha, perfect teacher, in matchless brilliant style,

How I wish that I did live in those glorious times!

- Nalini Colonne

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To Enlightenment through a Moonbeam

A disk of silver in the night sky of May

Shedding around its coolness ray by ray

To soothe a world scorched by the singing sun

Reminds us of the deep comfort underlying

The teachings of the Nobel One

Who is remembered at such a time.

In a world heated with envy and enmity,

Burning with anger, violence and hostility,

Fuming with lust and steaming with passion,

There lies a stream from an eternal spring

Of cool waters of wisdom supreme,

Revealed many thousands years ago

But, sadly, has not been tapped on as before.

The world has not changed,

But man,

Who for his endless greed

Wages war against nature and man

He is blinded to the truth, ethics and reason,

And gropes for gains in the height of treason.

If sense could ever be found in this frenzied run

It goes back to the time of the Noble One

Who enlightened this world mundane

With the remedy for all suffering and pain

Through his unfolding of the cause of all such bane.

Never there has been a time like this

One has become aware of the grief the world's stricken with

And what a solace could be found in the truth

In the findings the Buddha laid before us.

The trouble lies but only with us

For not being heedful to a solace as such

As we are shrouded by the veils of lust,

Which make us blind to the joys of truth.

Each day dawns with more and more traps

Laid down by cravings to capture us;

With the profound pledge of eternal bliss,

Then it's time to ponder over the truth,

That "all yearnings lead to misery and anguish."

If one can find sense in this simple fact

The life will be of much less stress

And will be rich in fulfilment

Through one of the precepts the Buddha conceived of.

- Manil Gunawardene

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Let us resolve

On the thrice - blessed day

let us all be silent

just for a few minutes

And contemplate......

surveying all round in our mind's eye

Ah......

Evils in abundance, virtues scanty

due to greed, anger and ignorance

Therefore let us all try to breathe out

a wine-glass of greed

and breathe in a full glass of generosity

to push out a bit of our anger

and thrust in a lot of kindness

to 'do away' at least a fragment of ignorance

and 'be well away' with a bulk of wisdom

Now resolve......

You will realise

that your greed is for others' prosperity

......your anger when you don't get it

......your ignorance due to non-realisation

that life is impermanent

Therefore let's put one full-stop

peeping into others' minds

Increasing the full-stops daily or weekly

as you please......

Now - above all you will learn

to apologise - admitting your fault

paving your way to live

cheerfully and peacefully

bringing peace and harmony to all gradually.

- Amara Samaratunga