MURYOKO

'Infinite Light'

Journal of Shin Buddhism

POETS' CORNER

Barb MacCarl

Born in 1956, from a very young age I felt the pull of the spiritual world and spent most of my life seeking.

In 2009, causes and conditions opened the door for me to encounter the Dharma and I knew, almost right away, that I had at last found my passion and reason for this existence: to learn and share the Dharma with others. Now living in Canada (Kelowna B.C.) with my husband Kent, my passion to learn and share continues.

May everyone hear the beautiful Dharma message. Namu Amida Butsu

Tears of Amida's Compassion

Milton Moon

Milton Moon 1926-2019 who was born in Melbourne is one of Australia's senior potters. In his early days, during service with the Royal Australian Navy, he first visited Japan and felt then this country was to have signicance in his life.

He worked in broadcasting then television for thirteen years during which he renewed an interest in the written and spoken word.

He has been a potter for over sixty years, receiving many awards including a foundation Churchill Fellowship: a Myer Foundation Geijutsu Fellowship; an Australian Government Creative Fellowship as well an Order of Australia (AM). He was made a Member of Honour of the International Academy of Ceramics in 2015.

He has been to many countries, learning and observing. He has visited Japan many times and during the period of 1974 whilst undertaking the Myer Foundation Geijutsu Fellowship he studied Zen meditation with the late Kobori Nanrei Sohaku, osho and abbot of the Ryokoin, a sub-temple of the famous Rinzai Temple, Daitokuji, in Kyoto. He maintained contact with his teacher until his death in 1992, something of which is documented in his Axiom publication, The Zen Master, the Potter and the Poet. 2006.

In his later years, apart from articles and essays, he has returned to writing. Latterly to writing in verse form, which he calls 'untrammelled' verse.

He lives in South Australia where his son Damon also lives with his wife, the violinist Lucinda Moon. His wife Betty (Bette) Moon died in June 2015.

Steven Braff

In February of 2015, I went on pilgrimage to Nepal and the villages of Northeast India. Since returning, I have been writing to discover what I learned; what I might share with others. These poems draw from that journey and my experience in an eclectic spiritual practice grounded in my Judeo-Christian heritage, Yogic training, Hindu arts, and Buddhist practice.

The poems' tones span from the declarative to confessional, playful to perhaps profound.

http://stevebraff.blogspot.com

Jerry Bolick

Jerry Bolick is not a new poet but he is new to nembutsu.info's Poet's Corner and we are pleased to have him as a contributor.

Jerry has been a nembutsu follower for some twenty-five years or so, closely connected with the San Francisco Buddhist Temple most of that time. The late Rev. Ken Yamaguchi took him on as his unofficial assistant many years ago and opened the door to many wonderful experiences that the average lay follower would not have. He has, for most of that time, and continues now, to be an active lay speaker, mostly in the small Shinsu temple in Marin County, across the Golden Gate Bridge - from time to time, he speaks at other temples.'

Jerry's poems.

Marcus Cumberlege

Marcus Cumberlege 1938-2018 was born in the South of France of Anglo-Canadian parents and brought up in England, where he read English Literature at Oxford. He worked in Peru, London and Paris and for two years on the West Coast of Ireland before settling in Bruges (Belgium) with his Flemish wife Maria.

Marcus became interested in Zen Buddhism in 1963, but his spiritual life did not really take off for many years until he happened to come across a reference to the nembutsu in one of D.T.Suzuki's Essays in Zen Buddhism. He now attends the Shin temple in Antwerp.

Marcus has published over 20 collections of poetry, with many references to his Shin faith, and 4 more are due to appear in 2009. In a Nutshell, from which the poems in this selection are taken, is one of the latter. His website.

Marcus' Poems

Gregg Heathcote

Gregg Heathcote's poems are already well-known to members and friends of the Hongwanji Buddhist Mission of Australia and we are pleased to be able to present his poems for the first time to a wider readership.

Gregg lives in the Australian city of Newcastle with his wife Tiffany and works in the library at Newcastle University. He has been a prominent member of Hongwanji Buddhist Mission of Australia since its inception.

Karan O'Neill

Karan O'Neill (Tz'u Shiou) holds a degree in theatre arts administration from St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, and her principle interests include writing as meditation and art as spirituality. Karan established and moderates the Maretate Adults' Room online writer's community and is co-owner and web master of the Kokoro Institute web site, where much of her writing appears as daily dharma and directed meditations. Karan's myokonin-style poem 'Namo Amida Butsu' was recently selected for publication by the Famous Poet's Society. Her other interests include creating calligraphy cards with her husband, Ken O'Neill, Kyoshi, and fostering dogs for a no-kill animal rescue group in Tucson, Arizona.

Karan's Poems

Jim Reels

I'm a 34 yr old husband and father of four great kids and I live in Tennessee in the southern USA. I work at a youth rehab with teen boys and I enjoy my work.

Here are my two poems and I hope you enjoy them.

Chris Morgan

Chris Morgan is a secondary school teacher at an independent school in Perth, Western Australia.

He holds a degree in Religious Studies from Edith Cowan University and has a long held interest in various religious traditions.

Of special interest to him is the comparability of esoteric Islam and Shin Buddhism, two traditions that have significantly informed his understanding of "life, the universe and everything."

Chris Morgan's poem

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