MY PERSONAL DHAMMAPADA--Book 15: Well-Being

I had a dream a few weeks ago in which my guru came to me and issued an ultimatum: "It's over. You can no longer use the world's entrance into things that matter. You must use God's." In the dream, 'I' was represented by a stubborn, wilful version of my son, Jesse, who adamantly refused to listen to my/our teacher and stepped out onto a balcony via a sliding door. Bawa told him, "You will not be allowed to use the exit from this room as an entrance back into it. You must use the door I am holding open for you--God's door." Jesse/me scowled, sulked and said, "No." Bawa looked at him with eyes so aflame and intense that I shook. "Aha," he said, "You think you are engaged in a battle of wills with an old man who is no match for your youth. Well, you have no idea of the power you are trying to thwart," and--poof!--he changed into a young body builder type with a turban on his head. "Now, see if you can enter through the world's door." Jesse/me started to walk back into the room th rough it and Bawa fiercely slammed the door shut. Jesse/me shoved the door back at Bawa but he instantly flung it back. And so it went, back and forth, each time the door slamming louder and more forceful. I fled the dream after the contest between Bawa and Jesse/me became what I can only describe as terrifying in its intractability. Bawa said over and over, "You cannot beat back the power I represent. This is the last day of your life where you are not an expression of any power but God's." Because, thankfully, the memory of that dream has pursued me ever since, I am glad to say I have not awakened from it. But now I face the dilemma of trying to attune myself and act in accordance with the power my teacher proclaimed. I find this realignment very difficult since I am obsessively self-willed and vulnerable to excesses of emotion about things I cannot change. I say all this because I am being called to the sidelines of political and social concerns which have preoccupied me all my life and I have the futile, delusional feeling that the world will fail if I am not lending my life to the causes in which I believe. Then I turned to Book 15 of the Dhammapada, which I translate as "Well-Being." It described the entrance door Bawa was holding open for me and all his children. I dedicate this rendering to Bawa and all teachers who have served as doormen at this entrance. [Note: This is not a translation. At best, or most, it is a "transdaption," a response to an academically legitimate version by Glenn Wallis. See this, as well as the preceding renderings, as a "reading," a duet with Buddha on a song originally written by him. There has been much criticism of this approach to bringing across great scripture and poetry. Out of deference to these critics, I make it clear that what follows is not a translation but an interaction with a great text.]


MY PERSONAL DHAMMAPADA:
Book 15: Well-Being
for Bawa

At last the great concordance:
to love thy enemies,
to practice peace without any renewable residue
of rage, resentment or regret.

At last the great convergence:
to dwell anchored in love,
to be rooted in equanimity
that heals all who feel it.

At last the great concordance:
to live on the permanent plane of contentment,
to live on a fixed income of inexhaustible patience
with endless gratitude the constant outcome of each drama.

At last the great convergence:
the miracle of empty hands
that are raised in praise
and readiness to clasp others.

This is the day of armistice
the day when the division of humanity
into friend and foe, lion and lamb
dissolves forever.

Prejudice burns hotter than the sun.
Hatred smothers like lava.
Factionalism tears like acid.
Only peace keeps life purposeful and intact.

Craving is the fuel for all sorrow.
Great plans and grand schemes know only shipwreck.
Seeing things as they are
uncoils the chains that bind you.

Well-being is true riches.
Contentment is the deepest content
drawn from the deep well of being.
Trust that thrives in contentment
brings people you can trust.
Once mind is beyond arousal
the world is a bestowal
come of its own accord.

Drink from the deep well of well-being
and taste the sweetness of the wisdom it brings.
This tranquility books passage into open waters
where you sail with the wind at your back.

Freedom brings companionship with free men
and allows you to be the quenching company to others
you once craved for yourself.
You become the mother you never had.
You are a son of God and father to the man.

Childhood is over. Falstaff has fallen behind.
The mighty staff of selfishness
is snapped like a twig.
The hard seed coverings of mind and desire
are sundered in surrender
to the full bloom of your being.

At last the great concordance:
to live grounded in modesty and mindfulness,
to take on the sufferings of sentient beings so that their pain may lessen,
to take on the joy of wise men so that their bounty may increase.

At last the great convergence:
every breath a prayer carried this way
bringing rain to things that grow,
moistening dry throats with song.

At last the great concordance:
benevolence now the ruling matrix,
its teaching all that is known and needed
once seded from discord and disunion.

At last the great convergence:
tending the quiet fire of gnosis
around which you gather like a moon
that borrows light to burn as bright as any sun.