Best Buddhist Poems
Realization & The World Religions
Christianity
Petro—Peter means stone
Jesus made a pun:
Upon this stone I build my church
Unto you I give the keys to the Kingdom
Hence Peter—The First Pope
Jesus “He is my Rock and Salvation”
Judaism
The Mitzvah—God blesses every good deed
The Buddha
sits under a bode tree,
Surrounded by swirling forces of greed,
temptation, and evil intent
Desires which are the source of all suffering
Through meditation he extinguishes these desires
like he would a fire
What remains is the pure,
ecstatic bliss of endless, inextinguishable love
Krishna’s Dance
represents the lifeforce constant change and flux
The vital, joyous force,
casting off our collective part of painful illusion,
and sweeping us ever onward in an endless, journey—Nirvana
Islam
Allah—The One and only God—Allah is good
Muslims worship the God of Noah, Abraham,
Moses, David and Jesus
Peace be upon them all.
However, it is certainly true that Jews,
Christians and Muslims
all have different concepts of
Almighty God
Realization
From my deepest self I reveal
an emotional rapture of the combined sacred oneness
Enamored in love is how I truly feel
note: Monotheistic religion starts at the core wherein one
God created the world and its people because He loved them!
Polytheistic religions also have love at their core.
AD 60 or 70 first known Christian writings
1600's Christian Bible, King James time
Before that Pagan Nature Worship
how blessed I feel
how fortunate am I
crossing paths
with a living
buddhist monk
in flowing saffron robe
his face serene
gaze so placid
waves of
universal peace
rippling
as he moves
along his path
the only thing
I know
is I know
nothing
AP: Honorable Mention 2021
A Buddhist bird flies
Under the eyes
Of winter’s sun
As I watch his flight
Across a lonely wintry sky
Gazing up
At his long, long flight south
He diverts himself
From the chilly northern wind
A wind
That the sun cannot warm
He diverts himself
With a single thought
As only a Zen Buddhist bird might do
And asks
What is the sound
Of one wing flapping?
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"the sound of one hand clapping"...(by J. D. Salinger) Thank you Leo
I am not a Buddhist
But a friend of mine you see
Is a student of the Dharma
And passes on to me
The wisdom of the ages
To help me understand
That though there is suffering
There’s also goodness in the land
Suffering the product of envy pride and greed
Subject to Karmic forces both good and bad indeed
To help diminish suffering good Karma is required
In striving for enlightenment we also are inspired
To think right thoughts do right deeds and speak only of the truth
But idealism optimism all easier found in youth
Seems to fade with age, experience and onslaught of nightly news
But still many try to find the good and build more positive views
With succor in religion through life they try to face
The misery and suffering so rampant in life’s race
Like Buddhists Christians Jews and Muslims who all see a better place
They depend on the good we do right now to earn reward and grace
So all the world’s religions depend on another life
To rescue us from ourselves and hunger thirst and strife
But I am not a Buddhist a Christian or a Jew
I’m forced to face the facts of life that seem to be too true
We’re stuck here in Samsara with no hope for some relief
From all we do to ourselves that cause us so much grief
All the Karmic forces that drive us to despair
Greed corruption affliction overwhelming everywhere
But in the end we can depend on relief from all discouragement
Because in the end it's all too true that all things are impermanent
Life will end and with its' passing peace will finally reign
Relieving us from misery suffering and pain
Unfortunately for the Buddhist death is no way out
He’s forced to return again and again to try to work things out
An eternity of attempting to overcome our nature
Never even coming close to avoiding all the danger
Of being reborn into a world becoming stranger and stranger
The mess we created is here to stay
No matter how hard or much we pray
So my advice to you while you still have life....
Appreciate the gift
Enjoy what you can
It’s part of the plan
And try to give others a lift
Howard Tunick
May 2015
Hi all, I have recently completed a short and easy to use Pure Land Buddhist Liturgy and Prayer Book, based on the 48 Vows of Amitabha and Infinite Life Sutra. Here is the first verse:
O Amitabha, you hear and you see our trials and ordeals. Heeding our pleas for refuge and relief, you have raised the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss: A paradise adorned by virtue so gloriously infinite that its majesty mounts up beyond Meru peak. You bless all who rise to your land with Sage-hood, even those from the realms of perdition. We see that your land is untainted by the states of woe—untainted by pests, pestilences, phantoms and beasts!
For this Glory of Bodhi, we Vow for your Land.
If you would like the whole book, you can read and download it for free here:
https://archive.org/details/PureLandLiturgy
The book has been released into the Public Domain.
Unsullied by the world, with conscience free,
He sits in contemplation, hour on hour,
Of one small point on his anatomy
From which he gathers strength and mystic power.
Not for him the hero’s wide acclaim,
The soldier’s glory, nor the merchant’s prize;
Deaf is he to trumpetings of fame,
Blind to the promise in a woman’s eyes.
For him no cleaving to ephemeral things—
No ties to trap his feet in tangled ways
That snare the steps of diplomats and kings—
No fear of blame, and no desire for praise.
Supremely blessed, the holy Lama sits,
Heedless of bombs that blast the world to bits.
The Buddhist monk
Following dental examination
Refused an injection
For his required dental extrication
Instead he chose to
Transcend dental medication
Buddhist prayers fly
like cardinals and finches
above a white rail
square boxes hold orange mums
flagging down the yellow sun
the morning begins
seated on the back porch with tea
the cat's in my lap
the chair next to me empty
as are the springs flower beds
missing only you
a long lost part ever missed
an empty cushion
a single china teacup
one lonely pair of old shoes
Tibetan Buddhist Tonglen
Tonglen, when you take on another’s pain,
As smoke, on the in breath ,
Outbreath normal as the rain,
You are sending health, no less. (sending white light)
You see the pain and suffering ,
You intensely feel his pain,
Brighter than the shining stars,
Pain, Light does ease again!
Did you ever have a friend ,
Who suffered some great pain,
And you also hurt with him then ,
Sympathetic, is here plain.
This is a useful game.
Would be healers of the west,
Are crippled, sometimes sane:)
By trying to heal, to do their best,
Yes painful is the game.
The truth of many religious books,
Can filter real concepts,
To see, one only has to look,
And truth is like the rain,
Do you want to share their pain?
Don Johnson
I try to help cause remote healing, I suffer for a day with the pain and wondered why,
the pain then goes, if I ask for relief, this verse may be my answer?
Buddhist Poet Tree in Motion
Paige helped herself to words written
On the canvas of life with earth
Etched on tapestry smoothening
The smothering eclipse of demise
Thermal springs fired resolve and
Restitution from smouldering ashes
Engraved meaning emoted retold
Enclaves of sanity resilient narration
In water she bathed her soul
Nascent native naïve swallowed
Mellow stream bubbles sprinkled
On aquarelle paper sun stars and
The moon in eight noble truths
Inspiring rhyme rhythm meter from
Obscure obfuscation Paige turned
Nothing to pages a tree of her change
24th January 2016
wherever
we go
there
will be
decay and
absence
for the
moment
we absorb
and learn
stillness
become
silent
listen
silently
silently
becoming
In Tibet, the night was cold and she said in Sanskrit:
Over years, in loneliness my heart bled in Sanskrit
All mantras of love have failed in winning her for me
Tell any Tantras to take me ahead in Sanskrit
Behind curtains of temple there was a paradise
Night was pleasant ride, though she spoke in bed in Sanskrit
The awesome civilization left us drowned in thoughts
In Hindu and Buddhist books, how we fled in Sanskrit!
In snowfall, my near death feelings craved for surpassing
How to ask fairies, "Is anyone red?", in Sanskrit?
Morning welcoming the Sun and evening fire blowings
I want to read my faith and others' dread in Sanskrit
November 06, 2022
Wanderer,
free spirit,
gets around the endless world,
he relentlessly seeks happiness.
Open your eyes
encounter an aurora borealis
simple to perfection,
like a lost Eskimo
or as a Buddhist monk
who attains Nirvana somewhere in distant Burma.
Or rather as an aborigine influenced by mysticism
or a lost Sufi
among the vapors of the hookah,
the scents of a forgotten time
that leave behind only the perfume of memories
abandoned in the wilderness of life.
Being a Berber in the desert
or Sahara Tuareg,
when the pleasure is enjoyed in a fleeting moment
while absorbed in timeless meditation,
enjoying life
in perpetuity carpe diem.
The Buddha insists on the absence of ‘I'.
We banish the self if we ardently try.
I’ve done meditation
and hoped for salvation.
So who became Buddhist? The Buddha — not I.
I'm woozy with the uncertainties of life.
I'm staggering back and forth,
slamming into one wall and then another.
I cling to a banister
wondering how it can be
that I'm even alive.
Bitter to be still living.
Grateful to have survived so long.