”Existence, consciousness and bliss are the longings of the human heart.
“Ananda, bliss, is the contentment of heart attained by the ways and means suggested by the Savior, the Sat-Guru.
Chit, true consciousness, brings about the compete destruction of all troubles and the rise of all virtues.
Sat, existence, is attained by realization of the permanency of the soul.
These three qualities constitute the real nature of man.
All desires being fulfilled, and all miseries removed, the achievement of Paramartha (the highest goal) is made.”
~ extract from ‘The Holy Science’
quiescent heart ushers bliss
whence we see we’re all of this
form and the unmanifest
in God Who’s always at rest
in form we have sensations
caused by soundless vibrations
when our will to God we bend
in staid stillness we transcend
rest knowing conceptual
getting to the factual
enabled when we let go
of the maverick ego
we exist beyond space-time
where yet resounds bliss beat’s chime
truth of Self, simple and stark
is our true Self is God’s spark
Categories:
sutras, spiritual,
Form: Jueju
She loved her child through rivers and mountains,
copied sutras with trembling hands,
offered them at dawn, noon, dusk, and night—
each tear a stream flowing in silence.
She loved her child across endless miles,
chanting through tears like mountain rain.
The wind carried her voice to distant woods,
cold rain soaking into her soul.
Then Mother became mist, fading in midday sun.
Then Mother became fragrance, drifting through dreams.
Then Mother became cloud, white hair at heaven’s edge.
Then Mother became sunlight, a shadow behind the hill.
At midnight, I turn in a distant town,
reading the last line of her sutra.
Her words overflow with longing—
transcribing the Buddha’s teaching across the river.
O love! A forest of white hair
flies back to cover birth and death.
A bird cries from the farthest sky—
I lift my head, and hear the sound of the Unborn.
--- By Nguyen Giac Phan Tan Hai
Categories:
sutras, appreciation, autumn, care, family,
Form: Free verse
Quote:"Lurking in stone’s shadow, quietly flows a fleeting saga of heroism.
And I, too, swim like that koi—through stillness, I traverse time in contemplation. " --- Zen thought
In the jade-mirrored stillness, scales ripple like silent sutras,
Broidered ghosts of light drifting beneath stone and shadow.
Each breath of water carries a hush—a teaching unspoken,
Inviting the mind to rest in the ebb of being and non-being.
A single red mark, bright as a lantern in deep quiet,
Breaks the surface of calm—a spark of courage in stillness.
Here, the koi becomes memoir of perseverance—the ancient river’s echo of transformation,
Softly urging, "Continue beyond the current, and become."
Beneath moss-fingered rocks, time flows in slow meditation,
Every ripple a lesson, every current a silent koan.
The fish, with graceful intent, glides through root and reflection,
An embodiment of Zen’s paradox: movement within stillness.
And so I am koi in the mirrored pond—seeking and serene—
My heart a tracing of curves on water’s face,
Finding in each quiet stroke the eternal in the ephemeral,
Swimming not to arrive, but simply to become luminous.
Categories:
sutras, fish,
Form: Free verse
you, this young lady
please keep really silent
on every step you walk
gently, please
just listen to every corner of the temple
where the wind from the ancient meditation forest whispers
and recites the way of Buddha sitting soundlessly
you, this young lady
please keep really silent
while reading the ancient sutras
just see on paper my words that have turned yellow
just hear the breezes still sing within the ink lines
once, in a long past age I wrote down
words of Buddha
thousands of years ago
you, this young lady
please keep really silent
really silent
please don’t laugh
who would remember
a laugh from a young lady that broke my heart
and blurred the ink lines from my poems.
By Phan Tan Hai
Categories:
sutras, beauty, blue, care,
Form: Free verse
First motion is practiced at sunrise
With devout courage and humble strength,
Unobserved, unguided, and alone.
First motion glides over the accent.
Some say swan dive, some jack-knifed tractor trailer,
Balanced graceful as a feather on the sharp edge of a sword.
First motion goes down with a karma chaser.
Repeat until you leave with empty pockets.
First motion isn’t drunk, just happy-go-lucky.
First motion is taken as given,
Today, and the day after today, and tomorrow.
Having so prepared, one is ever poised to face battle.
As Prince Arjuna knows, this world is no place for pussies.
Categories:
sutras, allegory, nature,
Form: Blank verse
Three steps of our soul ascension
Finds us gripped in astonishment
First is God realisation
On choosing love enablement
What comes next, child within wonders
Three steps of our soul ascension
Flicker free flame, held with candour
Awareness continuation
Waking, dreaming, deep sleep fusion
Bliss, each pore of our form does spear
Three steps of our soul ascension
The world appears and disappears
Freedom complete, with bliss replete
In unbroken meditation
One with God, our head at His feet
Three steps of our soul ascension
22-June-2021
Categories:
sutras, god, spiritual,
Form: Quatern
You flew through dinner, ate your fill, then . . . (drunk
on a fair amount of wine), happened
onto guests in the lounge and charmed
them, slurring secrets of the
sutras. You spun child-like
through revolving doors,
then fell into
the taxi
with a
smile.
Five words used for this poem: sutras, with, drunk, amount, revolving
for Caren Krutsinger's Mystery Word Find Poetry Contest
Categories:
sutras, drink,
Form: Etheree
Pasta and peppermint
tea night last night,
soothing to be sure.
Something different today,
a quick morning jaunt through
ambiguous paradox,
a shift in perception, perhaps.
The temple looks nice enough
Its thick green and brown doors
Open and vulnerably inviting
Like the entrance to a old forest dwelling
Once in, the chanting begins
Ancient sutras bellowed in the
Memory of the Buddha, stark lessons
Given down to mankind in his time of grief and need,
the answers we so desperately seek, yet are out of sight.
We sit on mats of the darkest blue,
backs straight and heads titled forward,
our breaths counted in our undisciplined minds, struggling
“Let go of the five Skandhas!
There is no separate YOU
You are empty, void of everything, nothing.
And yet you are the entire Universe!”,
he put forth afterwards, imploring
us to JUST SIT and count our breaths.
I’m hungry, is what
I am
And my legs hurt
like a *****
The Zen teacher didn’t like me
I didn’t care though
I’ve already read
Everything he said
In plenty of dog-eared books
Categories:
sutras, absence, art,
Form: Free verse
For every man that walks the Earth,
There are umpteen scores of envious souls,
Jealous of the privilege they now hold,
For nothing is rarer than human rebirth!
“If the soil clutched in the palm of my hand
Are the men and women who walk this land,
Then even all the dirt of the world entire
Are dwarfed by the souls seeking such a chance!”
- Shakyamuni Buddha.
Therefore, a life of virtue and good deeds
Is a message all of humanity must heed,
For this human life is short and scarce,
And if wasted, another come from whence?
Thus the sutras state:
Good or evil in this realm of men
Will yield eon spanning bliss or bane,
And as the Wheel of Fortune spins away,
Millions of souls hoping for rebirth as men,
Despair when it does not turn their way!
All rights released into the Public Domain
Categories:
sutras, allusion, blessing, destiny, philosophy,
Form: Free verse
you came undone
when you done me wrong
your tongue hard with words
that shaped your face
with lack of grace
twisted, snarling angry dog
never to lie down near the Master,
head to heel and heel to heart
crushing wild
the red rose its thorns
growing on your head
into circles of home-bound grass
I loved you once
my tongue touched your heart
these days have passed like diamonds into rust
then into the dust
of unyielding mouths,
we tie rocks to clouds
and sighs to sutras,
leaping off the page
like gazelles
on poems
kiss ecstasy
goodbye, we drink
the hemlock of despair,
the bane of existence like wolves
breathing down our backs,
moonlit creatures
of moss and stone,
we howl.
Categories:
sutras, lost love
Form: I do not know?