MURYOKO
'Infinite Light'
Journal of Shin Buddhism
Marcus Cumberlege
BUDDHA
Buddha, another word for life,
A name for everything that moves -
The cobbles dancing underfoot,
A piece of heaven in the mind.
The time to lean upon a bridge
And watch the shadow of a tree,
Poised like a dancer in full flight,
Caress the beautiful canal.
Another step. The utter lack
Of business needing to be done,
Women to please, papers to sign,
Anything resembling a clock.
Buddha, under his warm clothing
A person at peace with himself
Sailing homewards to his dinner
Blessed with feelings of gratitude.
BUDDIES
On the blank page of today I enter
The names of those I love but will not see.
Yours first, my faithful and forgiving friend
Who admire the man behind his poetry.
Don't we all sometimes need a helping hand
To raise our spirits from despondency?
Night can be cruel, daylight comes too late,
Are we not prisoners craving to be free?
Despite some tiny differences of taste
On one tremendous fact we do agree:
That we are bound together for a Land
Beyond the Ocean of Infinity.
IN A NUTSHELL
This is 'the easier path'.
Just by saying nembutsu
We enter the Gateless Gate
Set up by the patriarchs.
Amida solemnly vows
Not to enter nirvana
Before he has saved the life
Of every sentient being.
This Primal Vow reminds us
To trust in Other Power,
Simply uttering the Name
Namu Amida Butsu.
LINES TO AMIDA
I need to be reminded constantly
That you are with me, working in my heart,
To wander in your footsteps faithfully
With whatever friend, to whatever part.
Not only do I need your compassion
To make life simpler and to ease the pain
Which I and others feel in our fashion,
But I need to learn again and again
To let go and surrender to your will,
To yield to the smile on a loved one's face
Gracefully swallowing the bitter pill
Of ignorance, dropping out of the race.
I need self-confidence, courage to change
For the better, leaving my guilt behind.
I need you, Amida - does it sound strange? -
To help and to heal me in body and mind.
NEMBUTSU WEBSITE
Ten 'seventeeners' by Marcus Cumberlege
Every thought should be directed towards
Namu Amida Butsu
Five kalpas Amida sat for me -
Five minutes I will sit for him
A Shinran gets to the Pure Land -
how much more so a bombu like me
A dead butterfly
crushed by motorway traffic -
surely a buddha
A poet in Australia might be writing
these very words now
Amida is as real as the table
on which I write these words
Come, just as you are -
Amida's waiting for you
in the Land of Bliss
We are karmically connected
with everybody on this planet
To have stumbled upon a priceless gem -
that was my fortune in life
My voice and Amida's voice are one voice -
Namu Amida Butsu
OTHER POWER
Cold water flows from the tap,
Simple but miraculous.
Enough light to watch my hands.
Enough strength to wash dishes.
Enough Mozart sonatas
To last fifty-nine minutes.
Emotion recollected
On a town bench in the shade.
Rosebuds on a half-wild bush,
Quinces soon to turn yellow.
Such is my Other Power
And I am grateful for it.
TO KUAN YIN
I pray to you in my bedroom,
I think of you in the street.
I put you into my poems.
I lay my life at your feet.
You are my cosmic lover,
You are my closest friend.
You were at the dawn of time,
You will be there at the end.
Bodhisattva of compassion,
Helper of humankind,
In all your maiden beauty
You are pictured in my mind.
You are an incarnation
Of this goddess carved in stone.
You are the greatest blessing
I have ever known.