Tuesday 19 October 2010

Buddha on The Awakened


Ingredients:
Sayings of Buddha on "The Awakened".
Rendered in haiku form.

This is fourteenth in the series.

The image is "The Emperor" by Thalia Took.


Directions:
Waking purges all.
The awakened cannot stray,
For they are pathless.

In perfect wisdom,
Stainless, desireless, pathless,
What path can lure them?

The wise through practice
Enjoy the peace of freedom
And the love of gods.

To be born is hard.
To be awakened is hard.
You’ve done the former!

Rare this human life,
Rarer still to walk in Truth.
Make the most of it!

Throughout the ages,
The enlightened ones all teach
The same basic Truth.

Not doing evil,
Do good that strengthens good, and
Purify the heart.

Enduring patience,
Without harming, is the best
Attribute of man.

Hurt none, eat little,
Follow the path, seek refuge
And devote yourself.

This is the teaching
The enlightened have revealed.
Seek Truth through practice!

Should it rain with gold,
Still the senses couldn’t be quenched
Of desire for more.

Pleasures are fleeting.
Though they may be heavenly,
They end with sadness.

Lust cannot be slaked.
Knowing this, the wise are glad
To lose taste for it.

In times of danger,
Men seek many a refuge
To take sanctuary.

Some go to mountains,
Forests, gardens, sacred trees,
But these are not safe.

The only refuge
That liberates from sorrow
Is the way of Truth.

He who takes refuge
In Awakening, Truth and Love
Realizes insight.

He sees the four truths
Concerning imperfection,
Its cause and its end.

Seeing how craving
Brings sorrow, he concentrates
On its cessation.

Finding true refuge
Through the noble eightfold path,
He ends all sorrow.

Few are noble ones.
Lucky the tribe that has them.
That tribe shall prosper.

Blessed is the rising
Of the Awakened, Truth, Love
And Love’s fellowship.

May you remember

Those who sowed seeds in the past
And pay your respects.

The good in homage
Of awakened ancestors
Is beyond measure.

7 comments:

  1. These are truly 'golden words'... from which all souls could prosper.
    Awesome! Thanks for sharing, dude!

    "Pleasures are fleeting.
    Though they may be heavenly,
    They end with sadness."

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  2. I love your ways.

    Take care dear Jamintoo.

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  3. These are wonderful, Okei!
    Thank you!

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  4. Indeed Jach! The story goes that he was asked how his teaching differed from the Buddhas past, to which he replied the verse above:

    "Throughout the ages,
    The enlightened ones all teach
    The same basic Truth."

    ...and then the four verses that follow that... i.e. avoid evil, do good & purify the heart etc.

    Something just occurred to me today that religions confuse the man and the eternal Truth or soul or essence of the man. So for example Christians confuse Jesus Christ, the man, with Christ, the eternal. And Buddhists confuse the man Gautama Buddha with Buddha, the true nature within all. Stories are then told about Christ or Buddha, the symbol, for the purpose of teaching, and stories are told about the man, to set us an example, but these two types of story, or understanding have been confused over time. Is that fair, or would that be offensive?

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  5. There is no question you are right...

    I loved the post!

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  6. "in homage of" or "in homage to"?
    Seems either will do...

    ReplyDelete