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Shakyamuni Buddha
by Joe CramerIt was only about twenty-five hundred years ago
In India, that this wealthy nobleman's son
Had a discovery so profound that he left
His family's sheltered existence and went on a journey.
Asceticism coupled with some scholarly
And of course philosophical research
Led to his inability to answer a simple question.
"What is life-and-death all about?"
So much for all of his intellectual inquiries,
The fasting, the mortification of who he was.
Instead, he began sitting, immersed in meditation.
It took awhile, hour after hour, sitting there,
The total length of some six long years.
Finally, on December the eighth he saw Venus,
The morning star, alone in its place in the heavens.
It is said that he became the morning star, in fact
The whole universe itself became Siddhartha Gotama Shakyamuni.
The question vanished, and reality became clear.
He woke up. He is now called simply Buddha,
Which means, "The One Who Woke Up." 12/30/2006 Author's Note: I follow the dharma path.
Posted on 12/30/2006
Copyright © 2025 Joe Cramer
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Gabriel Ricard on 12/30/06 at 05:47 PM You know, I honestly hated that book. The poem, this one here, I like, because it captures the spirit of the book, which wasn't lost on me, but doesn't kill time on a lot of really boring narration (but this is all just one man's opinion). Great work. |
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