Embrace the Buddha's Feet
A lifetime
of not burning incense,
Something happens,
embrace the Buddha's
feet.
—Chinese
proverb
Splendid buildings
climb
the hill.
Guys in monks' clothes
lounge
around.
Empty rooms,
empty
lecture halls,
The Dharma things
are
still there
said
the Abbot.
At holiday time
local
people
throng
to burn incense.
Many Buddhists here,
said
kind Ms Yang,
Manager
of the Precious Teapot
Studio.
The altar placard
reads
To obey the precepts,
and
enter samadhi
is
burning true incense.
Embrace
the Buddha's feet.
At the peak
in
a rough,
red-rock
quarry,
Sits a pure white marble
Shakyamuni
Buddha.
I spread out my coat
and
bow.
A striking royal-blue
and
white
pigeon
gazes on.
Later
by the Stream
for
Releasing Life
Gold fish gambol
in
silty green water
Maybe when I'm dead,
a
kind Buddhist
Will release my finny
new
self here
In the bamboo wind
by
purple flowers
to
embrace the Buddha's feet.
Jun
Mountain Temple
Jinjiang,
April, 2005
__________________________________________
The proverb A lifetime/ of not burning incense,/ Something
happens,/ embrace the Buddha's feet means something like
'Too little, too late.'
The Dharma things/ are still there: During the
persecution of Buddhism—and much else—by the Cultural
Revolution, someone asked the Abbot Xuanhua what was left in
the Buddhist temples and monastery buildings. 'The Dharma things
are still there,' he said.
