the tree of life sangha

Poem: Please Call Me By My True Names

Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow—
even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am a mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am a frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.

And I am also the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his “debt of blood” to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up
and the door of my heart
could be left open,
the door of compassion.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

 

The Sound of the Rising Tide

The Sound of the Rising Tide

(by Phap Linn)

We children of the Earth
Scattered far and wide
We heard the call, the distant call,
the mighty call, of the of the rising tide

And our hearts aflame with remembering a memory beyond recall
We came to build
A community of love
To learn, to train, to serve
To embrace all our pain
And though we stumble and fall
we vow never to abandon
Our community, our path
And you, our teacher
We walk for you,
for our forbears and descendants
and on the long road
each step becomes legend

Long did we seek, long did we wander

On lonely paths, and broken roads until we found you
Our teacher of old

And not in vain, our fallen tears
Now rain of new hope together again

We’ll go on,
Our trust restored, our faith renewed
Our anger calmed, our joy reborn,
Many hearts one aspiration
Side by side
in times of joy, and through despair
in times of light and through the darkness

We release all our afflictions
heal and transform

Oh, children of the earth brothers and sisters
now let us go forth together to live the holy life

with the earth our mother as witness
to the strength of our vow
And we’ll bring back the refreshing spring

To the mountains and to rivers,
Rising thunder, cresting waves,
We go on
And we will cross the valley,
Of birth and death

To find you,
And look once more in your eyes

In the ancient forest, the old path white clouds overhead,
We stand together
smiling to the mystery

All sorrows at an end
All fear forsworn,

Compassion springs anew

Great love is in our hearts

In the vast sky, both sun and moon, are lighting our way

And our hearts aflame with remembering
A memory beyond recall
the sound of the rising tide (4x)