Big Picture Zen

Month: December 2014

  • A Poem by the Nameless One

    Now that I have woken up
    What shall I do

    Shall I go to the playground
    To run after the ball
    But the scores no longer matter to me

    Shall I go to the movies
    To watch the song and dance
    But I am no longer excited by fantasies

    Shall I go to the office
    To sit in front of the computer
    But that makes me sleepy

    Shall I stay at home
    To play with my children and talk with my wife
    But it does not give me any joy

    I think I should read a book
    But what will I do after I finish reading
    I think I should go to the restaurant
    But what will I do after I have finished eating

    I do not know what I should do
    Now that I have woken up

    I can see people around me sleeping
    Should I try to wake them up?

    But they get angry because they do not want to be disturbed
    Some can hear me but they talk in their sleep
    Others cannot hear me because they are fast asleep

    Oh how I long to look deeply into someone’s open eyes
    And listen to their unspoken words

    So I go along not knowing what I must do
    Now that I have woken up

    I run after the ball
    I watch the songs and the dance
    I sit in front of the computer
    I play with my children and talk with my wife
    I read a book
    I eat at the hotel

    But I do not know what I must do.
    Now that I have woken up

  • The Sutra Parrots

    1409033364_couple-of-red-parrots_facebk

    Recently I attended the engagement ceremony of a cousin. It was a Buddhist ritual. The monk recited the sutras & both the prospective bride & groom repeated those sutras.

    All Buddhist sutras are recited in the Pali language. And in the repetition, the meaning is usually lost.

    Wouldn’t it be better to say what the sutras mean rather than repeating them like a parrot?

    Firstly it seems as if you are signing a document written in Chinese i.e. without understanding the content.

    Going beyond the specific instance, this is a common problem while reciting sutras. If you understand the Pali language naturally then it makes sense but Pali is not anyone’s mother tongue.

    ​The Buddha chose to spread his message in the Pali language only because it was the common dialect & lay people did not understand the prevalent language of sutras – Sanskrit. So why can’t we speak the sutras in English or Hindi?

    Wouldn’t it be better, instead of saying – Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami; to say – “I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures.”?

    I remember once I had been to a house warming ceremony. Again it was a Buddhist ritual & everyone recited the five precepts including this one – Suramerayamajja pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami. It means “I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness.”

    To my utter disgust I saw the people, after the Puja got over, get into a party mode with alcohol & meat.

    So what the people said a while back in Pali language had no effect on them. If they had spoken the sutra in English or Hindi, it would have caused a contradiction in their minds.

    You can repeat a sutra in an unknown language for a hundred thousand times without any benefit. but if you repeat it in a language you understand, it may sink in.