The Quest of Milarepa

PART TWO

-

Obeisance to their lordships
the teachers

Especially do I pray them
of their grace to be my refuge

-

When ye look at me

I am an idle
idle man

When I look at myself

I am a busy
busy man

-

Since upon the plain
of uncreated infinity

I am building

Building the tower
of ecstasy

I have no time
for building houses

-

Since upon the steppe
of the void of truth

I am breaking

Breaking the savage fetter
of suffering

I have no time
for ploughing family land

-

Since at the bourn
of unity ineffable

I am subduing

Subduing
the demon foe of self

I have no time
for subduing angry foe men

-

Since in the palace of mind
which transcends duality

I am waiting

Waiting for spiritual experience
as my bride

I have no time
for setting up house

-

Since in the circle
of the Buddhas of my body

I am fostering

Fostering the child
of wisdom

I have no time
for fostering snivelling children

-

Since in the frame
of the body

The seat
of all delight

I am saving

Saving precious instruction
and reflection

I have no time
for saving worldly wealth

-

Since upon the mountain
of limitless truth

I am tending

Tending the wild horse
of self knowledge

I have no time
for tending sheep

-

Since out of clay
of flesh and bones

I am building

Building up
the miraculous reliquary

I have no time
for molding sacred images

-

Since upon the apex
of the triangle of my heart

I am raising

Raising the butter flame
of clear light

I have no time
for offering the sacred fire

-

Since in the temple
of the undifferentiated void of bliss

Before the image
of the tranquilized mind

I am offering

Offering
perpetual oblations

I have no time
for formal worshipping

-

Since upon the sheet
of pure mind

I am writing

Writing
desire-less characters

I have no time
for painting sacred pictures

-

Since in the skull-cup
of the very void

I am churning

Churning the poison
of the passions

I have no time for churning holy butter

-

Since in the close retreat
of good intent

I am cherishing

Cherishing as friends
the sentient beings of the six kinds

I have no time
for cherishing kinsfolk

-

Since in the presence
of the fathers the teachers

I am burdening

Burdening my soul
with counsel

I have no time
for growing old in ordinary ploys


[taken from "The Message of Milarepa", John Murray, London, and Grove Press, Inc., New York, 1958 republished as Songs of Milarepa by Dover Thrift Editions, 2003]

Disgust

Don't let this poem be successful
as a work of art

Lest the circumstances
and complaint
which led to its creation
be things you come to celebrate
as good things in themselves

Hope

A poem written in two times

In one time now
your grief is ever present

In the next
this thing it was
that you lost will have been
restored to you

Poetic Mood

Poetic mood
foretelling doom

Up on the moor
and in this room

I walk my dog
and talk with God

Outside the door
Thy staff and rod

Will lead me to the valley

Beneath the Sun

Turn the flower
to the left or to the right

It depends which way
you're looking at it

From above or from below

-

Beneath the sun

This is
how the flower
that you planted grew

Your tea is ready
for you now

-

Two armies
crossing at the border
occupy each other's land

They're two completely
different things

Too late to sleep
perchance to dream

Extinction of Man

Meat is murder

Murder me

With candle light
blow out the candle

Dig my grave
with broken sandal

I'm not waving now

I'm drowning

-

Go away a little closer
to your Father and your Mother

If you take just one step closer
that will be one step too far

Not for you but for me

Metal monster in the forest

Burning is too good for you

Time Together

She might be doing any number
of ten hundred thousand million
billion other things

So why do you think she necessarily
wants to speak to you ?

It's time
you spent
some time together

-

In the belly
of every rich man
dwelleth a demon of hell

Try to have as little
as you can to do

With fast roads
air travel pest control plastic bags
measurements of information

Grasping after other people
grasping at yourself

Alter Ego

Directly understanding
that I don't exist

Or seeing all the world in signs

That point to the same meaning

Clearing cleaning
being feelings
of the
alter ego

Each Side Portions Blame

Each side apportions blame
unfairly to the other side

Subject in their feelings
to the influences
and limitations
of the natural order

Creating new relations
by their own free choice

Modified in unseen ways
by the choice of others

-

In a dream once I saw
a vessel on the sea
at midnight in a storm

Flying uncontrolled
with torn sails and broken spars
through the wild sleet and winds
and waves of the night

And on that awkward deck I saw
holding to the rail
fast fading in the dim light
and flashes of the lightning strike
the figure of a woman dying

In the beauty of her face
by what strange uncanny vision
did I see that now
she seemed to find
enjoyment in this terror ?

In the dislocation of her mind
of which she was the centre
and the victim ?

(adapted from "The Flying Dutchman" by Walt Whitman)

Manly

You see now
what the friendship
of the world is

What all ceremony
embraces
and plentiful professions come to

You are no more
to believe a professing friend
than an enemy
who threatens you

And as no man hurts you
that tells you
he'll do you mischief

No man you see
is your servant
who says
he is


"The Plain Dealer" by William Wycherley 1676

"Drama in Performance" by Raymond Williams 1921-1988
Open University Press 1991 (p.89)

The Middle Way

(from the Majjhima Nikaya)


Ariyaparisyesana Sutta

Lord Buddha gives an account
of his quest for Enlightenment and how
he began to teach the Dharma


Kakacupama Sutta

Lord Buddha says that "a mind of hate"
goes against his teachings

Even if bandits are sawing off your limbs

He uses the example of Vedehika
seen as gentle and peaceful
until the day she loses her temper


Angulimala Sutta

Talking of bandits
we'll meet Angulimala

Who through meeting Lord Buddha
abandons his life as a homicidal criminal
and helps a pregnant woman to give birth


Culamalunkya Sutta

Malunkyaputta threatens to abandon
the spiritual life unless Lord Buddha
answers some big questions

He doesn't get what he wants
but Lord Buddha explains why


Kosambiya Sutta

The monks in Kosambi are quarrelling
and brawling and stabbing each
other with verbal daggers

Lord Buddha investigates

Shame

David
when he sees
how your government colludes

With the atrocities of Israel

Baby Ivan weeps in Heaven