Monday, November 1, 2010

have a little read... 'The Buddha and the Goddess'

 Once the Buddha was walking
 along the forest path in the Oak Grove at Ojai,
 walking without arriving anywhere or having any
 thought of arriving or not arriving.

 And lotuses, shining with the morning dew
 miraculously appeared under every step
 Soft as silk beneath the toes of the Buddha.

 When suddenly, out of the turquoise sky,
 dancing in front of his half-shut inward-looking
 eyes, shimmering like a rainbow
 or a spider's web
 transparent as the dew on a lotus flower
 --the Goddess appeared quivering
 like a hummingbird in the air before him.
 
She, for she was surely a she
 as the Buddha could clearly see
 with his eye of discriminating awareness wisdom,
 was mostly red in color
 though when the light shifted
 she flashed like a rainbow.
 She was naked except
 for the usual flower ornaments
 goddesses wear.
 Her long hair
 was deep blue, her eyes fathomless pits
 of space, and her third eye a bloodshot
 song of fire.
 
The Buddha folded his hands together
 and greeted the Goddess thus:
 "O goddess, why are you blocking my path?
 Before I saw you I was happily going nowhere.
 Now I'm not so sure where I go."
 "You can go around me,"
 said the Goddess, twirling on her heel like a bird
 darting away,
 but just a little way away,
 "or you can come after me
 but you can't pretend I'm not here,
 This is my forest, too."
 With that the Buddha sat
 supple as a snake
 solid as a rock
 beneath a Bo tree
 that sprang full-leaved
 to shade him.
 "Perhaps we should have a chat,"
 he said.
 "After years of arduous practice
 at the time of the morning star
 I penetrated reality and."
 "Not so fast, Buddha," the Goddess said,
 "I am reality."

 The earth stood still,
 the oceans paused,
 the wind itself listened
 --a thousand arhats, bodhisattvas and dakinis
 magically appeared to hear
 what would happen in the conversation.
 "I know I take my life in my hands,"
 said the Buddha,
 "But I am known as the Fearless One
 --so here goes."

 And he and the Goddess
 without further words
 exchanged glances.
 Light rays like sun beams
 shot forth
 so brightly that even
 Sariputra, the All-Seeing One,
 had to turn away.
 
 And then they exchanged thoughts
 And the illumination was as bright as a diamond candle
 And then they exchanged minds
 And there was a great silence as vast as the universe
 that
 contains everything
 And then they exchanged bodies
 And then clothes
 And the Buddha arose
 as the Goddess
 and the Goddess arose as the Buddha.
 And so on back and forth
 for a hundred thousand hundred thousand kalpas.
 
If you meet the Buddha
 you meet the Goddess.
 If you meet the Goddess,
 you meet the Buddha.
 Not only that. This:
 The Buddha is emptiness,
 The Goddess is bliss.
 The Goddess is emptiness,
 The Buddha is bliss.
 And that is what
 And what-not you are
 It's true.

 So here comes the mantra of the Goddess and the
 Buddha,
 the unsurpassed non-dual mantra. Just to say this
 mantra,just to hear this mantra once, just to hear one word
 of this mantra once makes everything the way it truly is: OK.
 
So here it is:
 Earth-walker/sky-walker
 Hey silent one, Hey great talker
 Not two/ not one
 Not separate/ not apart
 This is the heart
 Bliss is emptiness
 Emptiness is bliss
 Be your breath, Ah
 Smile, Hey, And relax, Ho
 Remember: You can't miss.

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