Wednesday, April 04, 2007

GENUINE BUDDHA

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week

April 4, 2007 The Twentieth Anniversary of the Parinirvana, or death, of Chogyam Trungpa

GENUINE BUDDHA

When the enlightened one was with us,When he talked to us,When he walked with us,When he fixed his robes,When he washed his hands after a meal,The enlightened one was always precise, accurate.He possessed ideal total shinjang, without reference point.He was playful and he was accurate.He was clean, neat, tidy.It was beautiful the way Buddha handled his begging bowl.Watching his fingersHe had no discrimination against or, for that matter, rejection of the way phenomena works:Buddha worked with a blade of grass, Pebbles, dirt, in his begging bowl. He washed his robes with such precision,

We like the way the Buddha is in action.Watching Buddha work is magnificent.There is no discrepancy.Buddha is the best friend.He is the best at working with the unworkables,Therefore he is the king.The best monarch we could ever find is the Buddha.The Buddha's gaze and the Buddha's hands -- the way he washed his handsHe washed his hands as a monarch would.He is not arrogant,He is humble and genuine and imperial.We like Buddha's way:Imperial humbleness.There is no one like him.That is why we call him samyaksambuddha.

O how much I love you Buddha!The way you do things properly,The way you feel the world around you,You have no aggressionO Buddha! O tathagata!You are so tamed, You are so beautiful,You are so royal, You are so humble.O to be like you, the genuine BuddhaWho need not clarify or validate You are buddha as Buddha.O how gorgeous to be Buddha!

We love your simplicity.We are glad that you took human birth and that you conducted yourself in the human realm.O Buddha, samyaksambuddha,We love you.We are astonished that you are Buddha,Fascinated that you are Buddha,Totally captivated that you are Buddha,We are inspired to follow your example.Shakyamuni, O Buddha, we love you.We are your best friend, O best friend.

Homage to the sambuddha, the perfect being.I, Chögyam, emulate you. O Buddha,Namo buddhayaBuddham sharanam gacchami.

By Dharma Sagara, Ananda, Buddha Das, Hotei.

Composed in 1982 at the Vajradhatu Seminary, Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania. Reprinted from THE ESSENTIAL CHOGYAM TRUNGPA, pages 101-102.

Editor's Notes: The 1982 Seminary, where this poem was written, began only a few months after the Parinirvana, or the death, of His Holiness the SixteenthGyalwang Karmapa, the head of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s lineage. At this Seminary, Rinpoche composed a number of poems as examples of devotionalpoetry for his students. The last two lines of the poem are Sanskrit and mean: "Homage to the Buddha, I take refuge in the Buddha." Chogyam Trungpa signedfour titles as his name at the end of this poem. Dharma Sagara is Sanskrit for Dharma Ocean; Ananda was the servant and a close disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha;Buddha Das is a mixture of Sanskrit and Hindi, which means "servant of the Buddha"; and Hotei is the name of a legendary Chinese Zen Master, known for hiscrazy wisdom teachings. He is the model for the fat, round-bellied buddha figures that traditionally bring good luck and wealth. In the poem itself, shinjang refers to the quality of being tamed or processed, which results from the practice of meditation. Samyaksambuddha is a Sanskritepithet for the Buddha, which means “the completely perfect awakened one.” Tathagata is another Sanskrit epithet that means “He who has gone beyond.”Shakyamuni is the name of the historical Buddha, which means “sage of the shakya clan.” Sambuddha means the perfect Buddha, the perfectly awake one.

Two notices of interest to our readers:

I. TWENTIETH PARINIRVANA

Information about Parinirvana events and a tribute to Chogyam Trungpa from Buddhist teachers, his family, students, and others is being featured on the Chroniclesof CTR website at:

http://www.chronicleproject.com/

II. The Spring issue of ELEPHANT magazine is now available. A column by Chogyam Trungpa will appear in each issue. The Spring issue features the first column.ELEPHANT online is:

http://www.themindfullife.com/news/currentintro.html

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