Welcome Death, Thank you, Life

Forever a Foreigner

Forever a foreigner

No longer a stranger

Forever  traveling

Only sometimes a tourist

But when I remember that this is Samsara

Then I am alright

I have a purpose

And life just flows by

Still falling in love

Now subtler than before

Still cultivating insight

Now more detached than before

But when I know that all this will end

And when death arrives

Then I can say

Welcome Death

Thank you, Life!

What You Have and Have Not

Give me a dime,                                       I have a dime,

Begs the poor,                                          Claims the rich man.

Give me a minute,                                    I have time,

Requests the busy business man,             Rejoices the carefree.

Give me love,                                           I have love,

Sighs the love lost,                                   Sings the compassionate,

All these are emptiness,                           All these are emptiness,

Reflects the wise.                                     Realises the wise.

All   Roads

When you are young, 

All roads lead to Rome

Power, beauty, wealth, glory.

When you are old,

All roads leads to cemetery.

Old age, decay, sickness, death.

When you are mindful,

All roads lead to Nibbana

Peace, safety, Wisdom and eternal rest.

Gypsy

Something from the past,

Dwelling in the present,

wandering into the future,

Knowing only change,

Never keeping, only letting go,

Singing and dancing all the way.

Above poems, from a Collection of Poems "Catch Me", by Sujiva. 

Quoted some interesting and meaningful poems, which have shaken my heart, and created a deep and profound resonance.  I would like to share to all of you. Thank you, Ven. Sujiva.

The Butterfly Is Not A Dream

Ven. Sujiva - My Teacher
A poem by Ven. Sujiva

That crimson flare

Which warms at first sight,
Now sears the heart with pain.
Foolish man! Feel not sad,
Count yourself fortunate.
Better it is, to lose a finger
Than to sacrifice ones whole life
For a sip of honey.

Smoldering grey clouds,
Hovering darkness, thick and suffocating,
These repercussions of vanity
Weigh down your eyelids.
The worst of the storm has passed,
Picking up the wreckage,
You discover what your folly cost you.

After rendezvous, parting follows,
And from craving arises woe,
When pleasure fade, suffering enters the stage
With a loud bang and scream.
These truths – not that you are unaware,
But since you forgot,
You see them again, now right before you,
Your deep love burns with fire
That only storm can extinguish.
Cry if you can’t help it
But by all means, do not end the world.

Alas! what mistakes man can commit, he repeats.
I can forgive him a thousand times and more,
And each time present a gift of a lotus petal
Accompanied with a drop of compassion dripped down
From the bitter nimb tree leaf.
But what really matters is that you can forgive
While others may still hate,
Forgive the sky and the earth
Forgive the ocean and all Mankind.
If you can do that,
Turn around to find,
See that pretty butterfly fluttering
From jasmines to roses,
How busy she is,
With the affairs of the world.
Why must you feel so sorrowful
When the beauty of Nature is yours, all yours!

No, that butterfly is not a dream,
That woman is, and the man too
And that conflagration of love
That you bathed in with sheer delight
Is the substance from which nightmares are made!

Note:
Ven. Sujiva is one of the Buddhist teachers, who are responsible for developing a keen interest in vipassana (insight) meditation in many western countries. Since 1996, he began conducting meditation retreats abroad, particularly in Switzerland, Italy, Czech, Germany, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand & United States. He has also published several collections of poems and written many books on meditation. He ordained as a monk shortly after his graduation from the prestigious University of Malaya in 1975.

Dawn At Long Beach

Ven. Sujiva - My Teacher

A poem written by Ven. Sujiva in July 95,
where I first joined his personal meditation
retreat at Ladang Pasir Panjang
Kota Tinggi District, Johor


A quiet dawn it will be this time
Not like yesterday
When storms shook apart the house
Awakening, casting aside darkness
Comes in with silent steps

As dust settles back
And the journey is about to begin
I wander about the wanderer
Who promise to come
But has not arrived
Awakening cannot wait
I’ll still be gone
And you shall not know me.

Just as I was about to meditate
You arrived as silent as the awakening dawn
You one friend who happened to be passing by
When I first saw you
I thought I saw something special
Now I know! Half of you is a monk like me
A homeless wanderer
But alas, the other half is a romantic fool.

To night our hearts will take flight,
Listen, the waves are calling.

Note:
Ven. Sujiva is one of the Buddhist teachers, who are responsible for developing a keen interest in vipassana (insight) meditation in many western countries. Since 1996, he began conducting meditation retreats abroad, particularly in Switzerland, Italy, Czech, Germany, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand & United States. He has also published several collections of poems and written many books on meditation. He ordained as a monk shortly after his graduation from the prestigious University of Malaya in 1975.

In The Name of Freedom...

Set the birds free, fly little birds fly!

Finally escape from the cage.

Yes, escape from worldly cage,

entanglement, craving & karmic debt.

Fly with the Wind, with all my heart!

Yes, set me free as a free man now!

With a sky filled with rain,

Many are caught within and without.

For the adventurous, the daring,

The determined and those

Who like caged birds,

Know the impending dread,

Shall not wait to seek

What may be called a genuine escape.

In the name of the freedom,

This one pretty birdie is set free

For Mr. Wind,

And this one’s for me.

More for all the Yogis in Malaysia,

And more for Yogis in the whole wide world.

Six birds it is for peace in the world,

Six more for lovers with hearts entwined,

That they too may disentangle craving’s net

And at last be freed!

Fly little birds fly,

Fly with our hearts into the void.

By a generous heart

And one who knows what freedom is.

Poem by Ven. Sujiva

Note from Ven. Sujiva.

To-day happens to be my birthday. While others decided to celebrate a birthday other ways, Buddhists celebrate it by performing meritorious deeds.

I remember being told once that one ought to recollect that birth as a human being i

s a result of meritorious action (wholesome kamma) and is rare. Rarer still for a human to be born in and meet with the Teaching of Buddha. As a result, they perform acts of charity, morality and meditation.

To-day, after some hooh-hah, I slipped out for a drive with a friend whom I called Mr. Wind. On the way back, I had an idea to set some birds free. At the pet shop, Mr Wind generously offered to buy them, saying, money is not the problem. After all, isn’t freedom priceless? We bought 3 pairs of chestnut munias, 3 pairs of scaly breasted munias, 3 pairs of peaceful doves and a most colorful pair whose name I do not know. The last pair was set free in the name of freedom for Mr. Wind and myself. The peaceful doves, 3 for our yogis and 3 for yogis of the world. The scaly breasted munias for the peace of the world, and the last and most plain, for lovers. That is because they don’t deserve the best birds. They shouldn’t have got themselves into trouble if they took up meditation with enough seriousness.

You Are My True Friend...

Ven. Sujiva

Will you let me be your friend
Will you let me lead you by the hand
And I will try my very best
To make you understand
The nature of the world.

And when you see
As I do see
And you can feel as I do feel
Then you will surely understand
How I feel for you

Then together we will walk hand in hand
Along the road
Of life’s undertakings
Understanding the true nature of the world.

Poem by Ven. Sujiva.

Happy birthday to my dear Teacher, Ven. Sujiva - May all your wishes come true, always be healthy & safely.

Thank you for your teaching and your wise Dhamma talks that I am always listening and learning...

Solitude

Ven. Sujiva

Solitude is
When you do not need any one around
And even if you are sick,
You are still happy.

Solitude is
To be wrapped in silence
By a mind unattached,
Sinking deep into a foundation of stability.

Solitude is
A clear understanding that
All of us, everything
Are just mental creations, conditioned.

Solitude is
To have abandoned the “ I am” conceit,
And is free.

Poem by Ven. Sujiva

Eternal Wish

When I was young
I thought I could change the world
Make mountains of mole hills
Turn satans to saints.

Now that I am older
I have come to realize
The Nature of these Bloody people
Were not made in a day
Or in a year, or in a lifetime
Rather, it was aeons of conditioning.

Even Buddhas merely show the way
People themselves must strive
But then, even with the greatest effort
It may not come to much
And so I have decided that
I'd better change myself.

By Ven. Sujiva

A Surprise Call for Mr. Busy Businessman...

(B - Mr. Busy Businessman, C - Anonymous Caller)

Telephone: Ring, ring...
B: Hello, who's there?
C: Is that you, Mr. Busy Businessman?
B: Yes, may I know who's there on line?
C: Well, hello Mr. Busy Businessman!

I've got one or two things to tell you.
You have no time for anything else,
Except: Accumulating phone bills,
Rushing for meetings, seminars
With big shots,
Borrow from the bank,
Then paying only when you can,
Speculating on shares,
Watching prices go up and down,
Deciding when to buy and sell.

O Mr. Busy Businessman,
There is no end to your running around
Trying to make ends meet,
Earning more than you need,
Suffering in hell for a number of cents.

B: May I know who's the IDIOT on the line?

C: I can be anybody, you just name it,
I am your mother, your father, your wife,
I am your child, your brother,
I am your conscience, your remorse
Over things done and undone,
I am your lost hopes for goodness and blessings,
I am your greed, your anger and most of all your delusion,
I am the reminder of terrors waiting for you,
I am that sickness, old age and of course, Death,
I am those things once gone, never return,
Your time is up Mr. Busy Businessman!
I am your karmic creditor and tax collector, your Nemesis!
You are now spiritually bankrupt, Mr. Busy Businessman.
When you were young you did not strive,
When you should have given, you hoard instead,
When you should be in the temple,
You went to bars for a drink,
You've wasted away your precious human life.

O Mr. Busy Businessman!
So now how can all those money help you?
Look, what have all those anxieties done to you?
A little late is too late,
What's done cannot be erased.
The black hearse is waiting,
The chains are on your neck,
LOOK BEHIND YOU NOW,
Do you can see all those demons waiting to torture you?
Can you see all those wolves and vultures,
Waiting to devour your flesh?

(Mr. Busy Businessman looks behind him and sees something too horrible to describe)


B: What the hell are these... GULP... GASP...
(Mr. Busy Businessman gets a heart attack and dies)

C: HEE HEE HEE, HOO HOO HOO, HAA HAA HAA......... Hmm...I am coming

YOU MAY BE NEXT!

By Ven. Sujiva.