Then the snow

Autumn leaves

Then the snow

 

Autumn leaves
Like you

Scarlet
Brands and scars my heart

In the wood between the worlds
Time holds its breath

Your words fell into silence
A stone into still water

The small tsunami
Of a single life

Earth folds her hands
Then the snow

©2005 Unjay

Autumn Yin


Autumn yin lichen

Autumn Yin


Red leaves, yellow leaves

Catching chill drifts
Dust caught in sun rays
Drawn to the scent of damp earth

 

 

©2021 Unjay

Gazing meditation 

Gazing meditation

Like butterfly wings
Her lashes softly close and open,
Open onto unknown ancient depths of being.

Have we just met
Or have we been before many times

In the presence of the mystery that is each of us?
The mystery which is expressed through the fact of our existence,
The universe whose consciousness is us.

We wonder at the separateness of a stranger
Even as we find a oneness in our wonder.

©2016 Unjay

Heart Sutra Mantra variations 

Lotus blooming from the mud

गते गते पारगते पारसंगते बोधि स्वाहा

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha *

 

Gone, gone, completely gone

Gone to the otherside, the farthest shore

Awakening

 

Alone,alone, completely alone

Sighing waves, blank sands blow

Seagulls wheel in the emptiness of sky

 

Sadness and sadness, deepest sadness,

Separation, awakening my heart,

Opening in tears

 

Around, around, all the way round

Salt sea washes, confused and crashing

Against itself, in turbulence, impassable

 

Oversea sun sets

Somewhere far away a lotus opens to greet her

Exposing the golden jewel,

Sun to sun, hidden treasure,

Earth echo of the star song,

Perfumed light and perfection

From the deepest dark beneath depths

 

 

*This is the mantra from the end of the Heart Sutra. 

Nobody really knows what it means, but it is said 

to be one of the most powerful mantras of all.

The first verse of the poem is a literal translation of it,

or at least as far as one can translate it, because the 

Sanskrit grammar is endlessly debatable by the 

learned in such things.

The Dalai Lama’s translation says

“go, go, go beyond, go thoroughly beyond, and establish yourself in enlightenment”.

Text and photo ©2016 Unjay

Lotus

If there were no words

Would life still be a story?

This is what I see:

Still water reflecting sky

Open, fresh, free

Stretching on forever

On the water an ocean of lotus

Wide green leaves giving life

Soaking sunlight and alchemizing that gold

Into perfect out stretching flowers

Expressions And symbols at once

Dredging from the depths

Through deep intertwined roots

From one earth a manyness of being

Showering sight in revelation

the life contained unseen

Unlocked by reaching down, opening arms

And gazing at heaven

© 2015 Unjay

Image: 

English: Tir Bijan Lagoon, Amol City, Iran
فارسی: آب‌بندان روستای تیربیجان، آمل، مازندران، ایران

 

 http://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pesare_amol

Poetry: Soham

Soham

“I am that
which is pure and divine”:
not a spark
or a drop,
but the essence.

This body
that sits in meditation by the lake
will return to the earth,
the dust of stars;
so there is a coming and going in God.

The so-hum, hum-sa of breath;
and a universe of one breath,
expanding and contracting,
collapsing to nothing,
a wave of sound,
just one note,
swelling and fading,
all the expanse of space-time
and body-mind
only one note,
one rising, vanishing
moment in the Holy Song

Unjay
© 2014

*so-ham and its reverse ham-so are Sanskrit mantras used in some types of meditation. They mean “I am that” i.e. I am “part of” or “one with” or “connected to” everything that is, on every plane of existence, in every mode and scale, macrocosm and microcosm. It’s a pretty far out concept! Thanks to Madhuriji for introducing this to me.