The Poems

[nirmal]

WHAT GOOD IS THIS TYPE OF GAME


Distorted is my inner worth,

Makes me buoyant with pleasure.

I superimpose finite on the infinite,

Yet hope to gain the uncorroded treasure.


The priceless wisdom of the Buddha,

Left no hope for the pandit baba.

I ran through shame,

Then reversed the blame,

And to cross the coast,

I worshipped the boat.


The Karmapa fatedly repeatedly came.

Twenty initiations did I gain.

But what good is this kind of game

If I'm never ever going to change.

[nirmal]

HELPLESS

I'm just an old donkey,

Helpless without any Dharma,

Without any time of peace,

I've to pull my heavy karma.


The load I pull is heavy,

Killing me up the slope,

My master alights to push,

Giving me words of hope.


I stop to rest at last,

As night eats up the day,

Dear time don't move so fast,

Tomorrow I've to be on my way.


I eye a brown hen,

Sitting on an abandoned van,

I wish I could slit your throat,

To hasten your rebirth as man.

[nirmal]

TaALKING TO MY OTHER SELF


Hoi! Hoi! Hooiiiiiiiii!

Listen carefully!

They say you are my soul

I call you my eighth consciousness.

You will survive

You will depart

When I die

So you must be very happy

I want you to listen good

Don't simply act

Don't simply take rebirth

Stupid fella

See how I'm suffering now

I want to be reborn a man

For just one more time

I want an Indian father

Must be Buddhist

I want a Tibetan mother

Don't want to be reborn in Pakistan

Don't want to be a Taliban

Don't go and simply mix

With any sperm and ovum

To be some new person

Hoi! Hooii!

Are you still listening?

I'll slaaaap you then you'll know

Now

I'll do my part

I'll nurse the good seeds

Destroy the bad seeds

Difficult task destroying defilements

I'll keep good merits

And you think this is easy?

You have many seeds

From the many lifetimes

You big shot

Hoi! Listen!

Don't become a pig

Not a chicken please

Dog also dowan

Remember! Don't ever forget

Or else I'll kill you

But, who will kill whom?

Aiya, never mind.

[nirmal]

DEAR MIND OF MINE


Mind oh mind

Dear mind of mine

When you're disturbed

You MUST go somewhere

Think of something

Not stopping to rest

Just dragging me along

Keep me running

Busybody pocket no money

You mother of mine

Though not from my parents

You keep motherizing me

Though being like my reflexion

In my mirror

But why do you leave

Even before I do

Before I'm done

I'm out of gas

Chasing you around

Where do you start from?

Why don't you end?

Give me your address

I want to hunt you down

To tie you up

Then tie you down

To give you a piece of my mind

Then collect the debt

For never ever giving me

The peace of mind

[nirmal]

HOPELESS WITHOUT ATTACHMENTS


My peaceful inner world

I created with attachments

Attachments in a multiple fold

Not going against Your government


If I practiced non-attachment

Dear Lord could I progress

I'm attached to gaining Enlightenment

This attachment I wouldn't undress


My meditation I do not miss

To it I'm really attached

On my seat I sit in bliss

This attachment will stay patched


I'm attached to your mantra

Concentrating on my breath

I'm attached to my altar

To enrich me before my death


Let go of all attachments

This song I hear daily

Dear Lord send down your regiment

To protect my attachments dearly

[Ogyen]

Your poetry tends to stimulate exploratory curiosity in me. It has contributed to my learning dharma. Thank you for sharing.


Ogyen.

[nirmal]

hello

These small things in life
Not yours not mine
And not to share them
Would not be fine

Your poem, so brief, so true. I love it.Keep writing.

[nirmal]

CAGED


I keep looking at the statue of Buddha,

So different the person it depicts.

I keep looking for the Truth,

When its the Sages who realize it.

I keep looking for the path,

When its the Sages who tread on it.

I keep looking at the map,

So different the country from it.

I keep holding the holy book,

Not learning to die from it.

I keep on killing my little ego

Yet there's bondage everywhere

I'll keep on looking for more gurus

Cos no one wants this trash


I"m just a little empty cup

Pour some Dharma into it dear Lord

I know I realize now my Lord

I've to pour the Dharma in myself

[nirmal]

O MONEY

On my deathbed I lay,

The sculptor of my life,

I had stood in the way of nature,

To pump up my pile.


My attitudes I grew,

Looting from day to day,

My mantra was 'O Money',

Stabbing everyone in my way.


I strutted on the knife's edge,

Misused the scriptural sayings,

My attachment caused bondage,

Which withdrew my internal savings.


I had looked for a guru,

To give me some guiding,

What good is a guru?

My ego started boasting.


Could I light up my money,

To brighten the corridor,

That runs after death,

To the other shore.


Though highly evolved technologically,

I missed the resources within,

I'm rich in inner poverty,

Yamantaka has begun to grin.

[nirmal]

JUST ONCE (Sirf Ek Baar)


How could I ever learn

I don't remember my past

Not even my mistakes

How could I improve

Rebirth has cut the path

Erased all memories

I'll never change

Without my centuries of history

What good is rebirth

It gives me a blank start

Fresh and new

Over and over again

With nothing to lean on

Just getting a little awareness

At old age

A tired old man

Sitting on a mountain of mistakes

Since childhood

All count lost in time

I wish to rerun this life

Become a child without rebirth

Remembering everything,every mistake

And where I went wrong

Just once

Sirf ek baar

Lord,sirf ek baar please.

[nirmal]

THE IMPERMANENT FLOWER


I'm a flower

Just bloomed today

Yellow and gay

Proudly I stand

Looking beautiful and grand

Waiting for a hand

I've no fear to be picked

For I know

Tomorrow I'll fade.

[Ogyen]

THE IMPERMANENT FLOWER


I'm a flower

Just bloomed today

Yellow and gay

Proudly I stand

Looking beautiful and grand

Waiting for a hand

I've no fear to be picked

For I know

Tomorrow I'll fade.

what I felt (in the heart of the lotus) when i read this poem:

I am a flower
just opened up
proudly i stand
just as i've bloomed
i've no fear to be picked
for I know not
tomorrow's wilt
so i keep hope
for the hand to give
everything
it will take back


Ogyen.
Om mani padme hum! I bow to the jewel in the heart of the lotus!

[nirmal]

Om Mani Padme Hum Om Mani Padme Hum Om Mani Padme Hum

[nirmal]

DRY TEARS OF THE BUDDHAS


What hath thou done

Thy Buddha framed

A well kept decoration

A showpiece for guests

No holy light radiates

Glorifying Buddhism to nothingness

Speaks so tender a voice

This my alter is


Yet another altar

Lost in time

Dust clothes Thee

Not a single space to spare

Thy cups dry

Dry brown flowers

Hanging down their heads

Of death by thirst

No one sits before

The burnt out incense sticks

Of Thou they speak

Devotion on their minds

False nature of black minds

Showmen of busy times

Swaying with no thoughts

Their time they think

Will never come.

[nirmal]

NONE TO EYE MY SUFFERING AND PAIN



The Ceremonial Laws of Whipping Gods,

Bar Zoroastrians who eye the flesh of heaven.

Buddhists with their sharp educated swords,

Hold on hard to Dharmakaya meditation


Fallen has the red fence from the sky,

Dragging me down by and by.

How could I dance to the stupa's chime,

With no Buddhist rhythm, no Buddhist rhyme.


Gautama,Gautama, you are my Buddha,

Less ravish souls are raying Metta.

Hoofs are pacing in the rain,

Horses whipped pulling carts of grain.


Which laws should I hold on to

I better cut the ropes I cling to

I shouldn't blubber about my fate

As my life is sold, death at stake


Four Blisses Four Sunyatas,

Four guardians to my bed.

Three to guard one to pray,

None to eye my suffering and pain.

[nirmal]

THE KING OF ALL MUSIC

Of the many many fine arts

The finest is music

Not comprised of songs

Not melodies of words only

But of the most subtle sounds

The nada, the great vibrations

That spontaneously inspire all cells

Making them dance

The stream of life sings

To a particular rhythm

Flowing through the corners of life

Giving a new experience

Each and every time

In one direction it's music

In the other it's dance

Then paintings, then poetry

But the king of all forms

The soundless music

The music for insiders

When the veil of ignorance is lifted

Hear the finest music

Far beyond

This sound of silence

This voice of silence

The perennial music

The height of spiritual estacy

The highest state of joy

For self realization

(keep )

[nirmal]

MAN AND SNAKES

Man is unclean

Smells, stinks without bathing

Sends the Buddhas running

So unlike a snake

Clean even without a bath

No matter how dirty its path

Man projects poison

In anger form

Spitting it out

With language not cushioned

Portraying negative emotions

With whom he dwells

With whom he shares

So unlike a snake

Which bites in defense

Or to fill its belly.

[nirmal]

Nothing Is Mine

I've been drowned

So many a times

What is your school

What is your line


Could I have a school

Could I have a line

When this poor self

Is not even mine

[Ogyen]

Nothing Is Mine

I've been drowned

So many a times

What is your school

What is your line


Could I have a school

Could I have a line

When this poor self

Is not even mine

Stunning piece. The power of your open question. I have a feeling the title might be stronger as "Mine" instead of "Nothing Is Mine" where it would leave the openness even more open and it would be almost dizzying, the struggle with want, with "mine" all condensed in the 4 little letters of one word. Just a thought dharma-brother.


Ogyen

[nirmal]

Nothing Is Mine

I've been drowned

So many a times

What is your school

What is your line


Could I have a school

Could I have a line

When this poor self

Is not even mine

Stunning piece. The power of your open question. I have a feeling the title might be stronger as "Mine" instead of "Nothing Is Mine" where it would leave the openness even more open and it would be almost dizzying, the struggle with want, with "mine" all condensed in the 4 little letters of one word. Just a thought dharma-brother.


Ogyen

Glad you liked it,Ogyen.I usually give not much thought to the title but I guess that would have to change from now. 'Nothing Is Mine' leaks the contents of the poem without even having to read it, I think. A yo yo, dharma brother, elder dharma-brother or younger dharma-brother? Title for the next poem 'Negative Positivity' Thoughts?