Suan Mokkh: The Garden of Liberation

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October 2001


Tiger Becomes Kitty

These kids of the Tathagata are tigers!
Ferociously pouncing on the Path-Fruit prey.
Living the wilderness of meditation as he taught,
Sorting out the branches of Satipatthana.

Body, feeling, minds, and Dhamma --
These four are the territories in which tigers
Circle, stalk, and catch their prey,
Clutched securely in the paws of mindfulness.

Any tiger that gets sloppy with Satipatthana
Becomes a house cat, haven't you seen.
The kittified tiger is gossipped all over,
Once the good name of "tiger" is lost in distractions.

 
Tathagata = "One Thus Gone," the Buddha. "Children of the Tathagata" traditionally refers to ordained monks and nuns.

Path-Fruit = the moments of consciousness that through penetrating insight into the nature of reality cut through the inborn and accumulated accretions of egoism (path) and experience the resulting joy or peace and liberation (fruit).

Satipatthana = the applications of mindfulness (listed in next stanza) which are the frames of reference for Buddhist meditation practice.
Please visit last month's verse, which was published simultaneously with this month.

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Created 1 October 2001 © Evolution/Liberation