Friday 8 October 2010

Buddha on The Thousand



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

This is eighth in the series. Check back for the earlier ones!

The image is the Chinese goddess of compassion Quan Yin. The video that follows is an amazing performance 
by Chinese deaf-dancers of Quan Yin's thousand hands.




Directions:
Better is one word
That brings peace than a thousand
That confuse the mind.

Better is one verse
That brings peace than a thousand
That dull the senses.

Better is one line
That brings peace than a thousand
That overwhelm you.

Better to win one war,
To conquer yourself, than win
One thousand battles.

Victory of self
Cannot be taken away
By gods or demons.

Victory of self
Cannot turn into defeat.
The war is over.

Better one offering
To a sage than a thousand
To unworthy men.

Better to honour
A sage than a hundred years
Tending holy fire.

To revere the sage,
A master old in virtue,
Is to share in life.

In old company,
Beauty, strength and happiness
Will surely increase.

Better is one day
Mindful and contemplative
Than a lifetime lost.

Better is one day
Awake in wise reflection
Than a lifetime lost.

Better is one day
Spent in determination
Than a lifetime lost.

Better is one day
Thinking how things rise and pass
Than the life unthought.

Better is one day
Seeing into Nibbana
Than the life unseen.

Better is one day
Knowing of the way beyond
Than the life unknown.



6 comments:

  1. Bravo.......thanks for this post, Okei!

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  2. thank you for the post-- i am wondering about your background picture -- is that a statue of a human near the center or a living human? and what type of field is he/it standing in? it looks like rows of crops-- but it could be rows of something else. sorry for the silly questions.

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  3. Thanks Nancy, Lin & Billy!

    Lol, I just noticed what you mean. It's a picture of the moon setting over the rooftops. The strange statue I believe is a chimney piece. Then behind the roofs are some trees, and on the left a bougainvillea maybe?

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  4. By the way, Quan Yin, pictured, is also knows as the thousand-arms, thousand-eyes bodhisattva. That was a lucky coincidence! I chose the image because of the "one" lotus flower which she holds in her hand.

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  5. Can you believe that the ladies in that video are deaf?!! Apparently there's someone to the side choreographing with signs.

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