TO THE OAK TREE ON THE CAMPUS QUAD An earlier draft appeared in The Touchstone, Vol. IX: 3, Summer 1999. my dear friend tree leaning in front of the Bolton Hall you must have seen many miseries even more happiness, I hope people wounded in anger souls wounded in love engagement parties (like one we witnessed last night) many weddings, I'm sure perhaps even baptism or two embracing all in your silent vastness presiding well over all of this do you need three refuges have you completed the Bodhisattva vows no one can tell not even Buddha can answer questions like these for to allege you lack something would be a simple lie while to assert that you are perfect would be like throwing dirt in the lustrous space thus, let me simply rest in your shade, doing zazen on the stone bench at your foot dissolving in your green samadhi let us chant sutras together for the benefit of all College Station, Spring, 1999

AWAY TO DALLAS (FOR A FULL DAY MEDITATION SITTING) The mantra (mystical verse) Namu Dai Bosa has been "invented" (or, perhaps, discovered) by the Zen Master Soen Nakagawa Roshi. (See his poems.) Soen Roshi chanted this mantra almost continually. Literarily, it can be translated as "Homage to the Great Compassionate One (Bodhisattva)." Its deeper point is to lead us to become one with the boundless source of wisdom and compassion that pervades the universe and is not really different from our inner nature. To Madison, Texas 21st East Namu Dai Bosa! Namu Dai Bosa! North to Dallas, interstate twists Namu Dai Bosa! Namu Dai Bosa! Truck's engine roars, the wheels wheeze and turn again Namu Dai Bosa! Namu Dai Bosa! Through the darkness of clouds, rain full moon shines Namu Dai Bosa! Namu Dai Bosa! Truck, engine, wheels, moon, sky and the boundless dawn Namu Dai Bosa! Namu Dai Bosa! One in all we all chant Namu Dai Bosa! Namu Dai Bosa! Bob Dylan sings I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours And Namu Dai Bosa! Namu Dai Bosa! Namu Dai Bosa! Namu Dai Bosa! Ten thousand things melt into one January 1999.

These two poems came to me when I was on sabbatical at TAMU, College Station. The magnificent Oak, in front of the Philosophy Department, was keeping me alive and sane (more or less). The second poem literary happened while I was driving to Dallas to take part in zazenkai - a day long meditation retreat at the Maria Kannon Zen Center. Here is a brief elucidation of some technical terms used in these poems: Bodhisattva -- a person who vows to sacrifice his or her personal well-being for the benefit of all sentient beings; one who leads sentient beings to from the world of samsara to enlightenment (and the state of nirvana). Bodhisattva vows -- vows to liberate all-sentient beings from suffering caused by ignorance, selfishness, hate, greed, and similar shortcomings. Samsara -- the state (cycle) of conditioned existence in which all sentient beings perpetually revolve without choice, as a result of their delusions. Samsara is the state of unenlightened existence usually contrasted with the liberation one achieves while entering nirvana. However, from the point of view of such schools of Buddhism as Zen and Vajrayana, the distinction between samsara and nirvana is itself illusory. Samadhi -- the state of high concentration achieved, e.g., through zazen or other forms of sitting meditation. Sutras -- prose texts expressing the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha or other deeply spiritually developed beings. Three refuges (trisharana) -- refuges taken in Buddha (a teacher), Dharma (his teaching), and sangha (the community of practitioners). Zazen -- a form of sitting meditation (literary, sitting Zen).     The calligraphy, by the Zen Master Soen Nakagawa Roshi

Poetry