Introductory Note I recorded this story after several hours of conversation with a Balinese friend of mine. I can vouch for his integrity and have tried to present his point of view to the best of my ability. At times, however, it is possible that I may have misunderstood his message or injected my own […]
Mosquito Love To the Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw Sweet fragrance of dawn –Clemency of life’s morningtide –Perfumed rivulets of dew flowing into an ocean of grass.A single note and the silence is broken.The changing of the guard:Exit the winged marauders of the night,Hiding themselves in the receding shadows –Those who sought me out under cover of […]
Who are they to invade our land and commit unspeakable acts of terror,Killing women and children alike?Who are they to plant the seeds of foreign values on our native soilAnd decide for usIf we should live or die?In whose name do they perpetrate such crimes,And by what heinous belief are they possessedThat they should be […]
Their father was an old fashioned man,While their mother was a modern woman.Their father sacrificed himself for the family,While their mother sacrificed the family for herself.Who’s to say if one was right and the other wrong?Listen to the children crying in their beds at nightIn the homes of broken familiesAnd decide for yourself. Pa-Auk Forest […]
To live in peace, we must forgive,As we would be forgiven.By forgiving, we release the heartAnd receive the gift we’ve given. Two wrongs indeed don’t make a right,But one right can right two wrongs;This is heaven’s golden meanAnd the sweetest of all songs. It soothes the raging beast withinAnd brings an end to war;It overcomes […]
“Hatred is never overcome by hatred in this world. Only by non-hatred is hatred overcome – this is an eternal law.” – A quote from the Buddha, Dhammapada Verse 5 As long as we continue to impose our views on others, the world will be enveloped in conflict. Not until we finally relinquish this tyranny […]
Smartphone, smartphone, on my stick,Whose selfie is the fairest one of all?Whose texts and tweets are full of wit?Who is the queen of the virtual ball? Smartphone, smartphone, in my pocket,Hallowed be the names of Samsung and iPhone,Of Sprint and Verizon and AT&T,For 5G will come and thy will will be done,On earth as it […]
To Puspa On the tree of life grow myriad fruits,Each one more delicious than the last,But the root of that tree is humility,With a flavor quite different from the rest,For the more that one eats of it, the sweeter it gets. The scriptures say of the proud and mighty:“Pride cometh before a fall,”But even should […]
The chickens of global warming have finally come home to roost,And folks in the US are getting well goosed.With the heat-waves and draught, and the cost of our vegies,You’d think Mother Nature was giving us wedgies. No doubt the Kentucky Fried Devil will soon join the fun,When the broilers line up in the fierce morning […]
In memory of Clementa C. Pinckney and the others who died in the June 17th shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina I If you want to be a Christian,Then be black.Show meThat you can rise up from slavery,That I am your long lost brother,That we are of one family,That […]
