Poetry

What sort of going forth is correct?
The kind that aims straight for liberation!

Can't you stay at home just as well?
Sure, but it isn't nearly as convenient!

How is being a wanderer speedier?
Ones feet are lighter when not carrying a house!

Where is liberation found before time runs out?
In not clinging to anything to tie you up!

What is given up to not get all trussed up?
Give up hugging all the fruits one might find!

How do we give it up so as not to be strangled? 
Simple let go of self and all self's stuff!

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In fact, this work is lovely:
Before we understand it, we complain,
Unknowing, we avoid it and hide,
Even moan that it is boring.

But truly, this work is lovely:
Teaches people to understand every thing,
The more we work, the smarter we are,
Plunging into difficult things the heart grows.

This work, if you really look, is lovely:
It pulls in Dhamma most praiseworthy,
That is, mindfulness, zeal, and their mates.
When we stop to rest the mind is free — the way to Nibbana.

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So what in the world is most frightening?
I've looked everywhere, there's nothing at all!

If so, is there anything frightening in people?
I'm immeasurably afraid of my own stupidity!

Don't you mean afraid of other people's stupidity?
That's no trouble if our own doesn't resist!

Isn't the stupidity of criminals something scary?
If we aren't stupid they won't dare anything!

Aren't you afraid of suffering birth, illness, aging, and death?
They burn us because we're so enormously foolish!

Do you mean we'll never suffer if never stupid?
I'm certain. Fear only our own big, fat stupidities!

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Even today the world is in the dark ages
rushing rapidly towards its own dissolution,
humanism will fall into hellish ruin because 
the spinning blade of destruction is mistaken for a lotus.

Selfishness fills our heads, pushing us under its muck
with a wonderful magic that fills our minds
absorbing everything until the heart is dark
and thinks its sensual infatuation is “progress.”

With morals no longer seen as necessary
for living together in peace and happiness;
more crazy than ever with food, fun, and fame
so deluded the insanity seems “moral and just.”

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What can we do to be bigger than a mountain?
Oh, do it just by killing off craving!

Is it a matter of the mind or of wisdom?
Oh, they both have to work together surely!

Regarding the mind, what is its duty?
Oh, use its mighty strength bigger than a mountain!

And how about the duty of wisdom?
It slices right through like lightening!

How are they able to combine their power?
Oh, they make a sword both heavy and sharp!

And for what reason are we bigger than mountains?
With craving destroyed and poison removed, mind is boundless. 

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After awakening to the realization of Dhamma Truth
the Ultimate Reality of Nature, he taught
Sunyata to all beings in all possible ways
so disciples will remove every bit of Self.

Later, the religion fell into the hands
of those who still cling to “Ego” intensely,
and still beg for ordinary sensual pleasures,
thus always looking for a way around.

One kind of Buddhism must be lowered
so that its Triple Gem is for people to pray
for all the things desired by those followers who
have turned away from the transcendent
and are stuck in the world.

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“Me” myself doesn't really exist,
So where will you find “my wife and kids” ?
Not to mention “my wealth” or “my stuff”? 
Because I don't even have a “self” of my own!

If those are the facts, then whatever is it that
Excites and sends body-mind moving around?
It's just body-mind, haven't you noticed? 
Don't you know that body-mind is not “self”?

It's merely wonderful, profound natural change
That thinks, feels, speaks, and acts according to causes
Just ordinary blind aggregates and elements 
Don't idiotically assume that “Me” exists.

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Even if you don't cling to the goodness you've done,
It still gives good results in return.
Even if you don't cling to the evil you possess,
Further evil is fed according to its nature.

Non-clinging is far better in not biting;
It can be quiet, peaceful, settled, and circumspect.
As soon as you grab something it turns and bites;
Good and evil both bite, to that I can attest.

Non-clinging isn't the least bit heavy, 
Delightfully free of any power to entrap.
The least clinging, jumps you into the pits
Gnawing at the roots and every rung of the heart!

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May the Virtues of the Buddha
The highest refuge without doubt
Protect all of you dedicated
To practicing the true path devoutly.

May the Virtues of the Dhamma
Which overcomes dukkha 
Protect all of you determined
To practice in line with the Dhamma.

May the Virtues of the Sangha
That walks the path beautifully
Protect all of you aiming
To follow the path securely and true.

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Like clinging? Well, be careful, it will bite!
As foolishness grabs hold, craving always arises
Then clinging binds and strangles the spirit.
Before you know it, you'll go crazy in a wink.

Cling to anything and that very thing bites:
Food, fun, or fame, anything whether ugly or sweet;
Even children, wife, husband, and other loved ones;
Good or evil, virtue or vice — you ought to know.

Even the most exquisitely delicious joy of your mind
No matter how peaceful and subtle, if it's clung to 
Suddenly changes into an ogre that turns on you
To gobble you up with that happiness — don't be a fool!

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Any physical action, spoken word, or thought
ought to be done with a crystal clear mind 
that doesn't regard anything as “this” or “that”  
no longer made nasty and dangerous by clinging. 

Whichever “Me” or “Mine” arises, can't you see
they're just the concoctions of sankhara? 
Claiming things to be “Self” is criminal, in other words, 
a clever, shameless, con-job to defraud Nature. 

Whoever stubbornly insists on such a life
falls into a daylong hell of thick, foul smoke, 
with putrid fumes even more extreme at night, 
till cremation ends him having never known any coolness. 

Think — speak — act with a clarified heart 
made bright, pure, calm, and smart through discovering 
that anything can be conquered through Dhamma.
Oh, human friends, this sort of life is the highest. 

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There's a lot of wanting to look good,
but it's much more difficult to do.
So they get carried away as if crazy;
Aren't we silly, we people, creating ourselves!

Thinking it's right, it's good, following the advice 
of ghosts, so they lose the path of morality ...
sunk in the mud beneath the lotus's roots
... blossoming all over not at all fragrant.

This makes them push ahead as if crazy
getting upset revealing their lunacy even more
showing off their very craziness,
boy it's hard to really do good.

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