{"id":14020,"date":"2016-09-25T07:16:17","date_gmt":"2016-09-25T14:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?p=14020"},"modified":"2016-09-25T09:05:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-25T16:05:46","slug":"the-very-short-sutra-on-the-meeting-of-the-buddha-and-the-goddess-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2016\/09\/the-very-short-sutra-on-the-meeting-of-the-buddha-and-the-goddess-2.html","title":{"rendered":"The Very Short Sutra on the Meeting of the Buddha and the Goddess"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Guanyin<\/a>
\nRick Fields was a poet, a journalist, and author of the first comprehensive history of Buddhism<\/a> come to America, How the Swans Came to the Lake,<\/a> first published in 1988, and which went through several editions. Toward the end of the 1960s he studied Zen at both San Francisco and Los Angeles, but found his heart practice in the early 1970s with the Tibetan traditions and particularly with the late Chogyam Trungpa. <\/em><\/p>\n

We who care about Buddhism in the West owe Rick an immeasurable debt for his archiving of many of the details of the early years of the great wave of our Western convert Buddhism. That\u2019s why I dedicated my own small contribution to that archiving project, Zen Master Who: An Introduction to the People and Stories of Zen<\/a> to Rick.<\/p>\n

So, it was a small delight when I was noodling around the web and stumbled upon this poem by him. It touches on many things, but most of all, it reflects the eclectic spirit of our contemporary engagement, and the love of the encounter that Rick showed us all with complete abandon.<\/p>\n

While I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, he was an important figure in my life. I miss him\u2026<\/p>\n

The Very Short Sutra on the Meeting of the Buddha & the Goddess<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rick Fields<\/p>\n

Thus I have made up:<\/p>\n

Once the Buddha was walking along the forest path
\nIn the Oak Grove at Ojai, walking without arriving anywhere
\nOr having any thought of arriving or not arriving
\nAnd lotuses shining with the morning dew
\nMiraculously appeared under every step
\nSoft as silk beneath the toes of the Buddha<\/p>\n

When suddenly, out of the turquoise sky,
\nDancing in front of his half shut inward looking eyes,
\nShimmering like a rainbow or a spider\u2019s web
\nTransparent as the dew on a lotus flower,
\n-The Goddess appeared quivering
\nLike a hummingbird in the air before him<\/p>\n

She, for she surely was a she
\nAs the Buddha could clearly see
\nWith his eye of discriminating awareness
\nWas mostly red in color
\nThough when the light shifted
\nShe flashed like a rainbow.
\nShe was naked except
\nFor the usual flower ornaments
\nGoddesses wear
\nHer long blue hair was deep blue,
\nHer two eyes fathomless pits of space
\nAnd her third eye a bloodshot
\nRing of fire.<\/p>\n

The Buddha folded his hands together
\nAnd greeted the Goddess thus:
\n\u2018O Goddess, why are you blocking my path.
\nBefore I saw you I was happily going nowhere.
\nNow I\u2019m not sure where to go.\u201d
\n\u201cYou can go around me,\u201d said the Goddess,
\nTwirling on her heels like a bird darting away,
\nBut just a little way away,
\n\u201cOr you can come after me.
\nThis is my forest too,
\nYou can\u2019t pretend I\u2019m not here.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that the Buddha sat
\nSupple as a snake
\nSolid as a rock
\nBeneath a Bo tree that sprang
\nFull leaved to shade him.
\n\u201cPerhaps we should have a chat,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cAfter years of arduous practice
\nAt the time of the morning star
\nI penetrated reality, and now .. \u201c
\n\u201cNot so fast, Buddha.
\nI am reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The earth stood still,
\nThe oceans paused,
\nThe wind listened
\n\u2013 a thousand arhats, bodhisattvas, & dakinis
\nMagically appeared to hear
\nWhat would happen in the conversation.
\n\u201cI know I take my life in my hand,\u201d said the Buddha
\n\u201cBut I am known as the Fearless One
\n\u2013 so here goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he & the Goddess
\nWithout further words
\nExchanged glances
\nLight rays like sunbeams
\nShot forth
\nSo bright that even
\nSariputra, the All Seeing One,
\nHad to turn away.<\/p>\n

And then they exchanged mind
\nAnd there was a great silence as vast as the universe
\nThat contains everything
\nAnd then they exchanged bodies
\nAnd clothes
\nAnd the Buddha arose
\nAs the Goddess
\nAnd the Goddess
\nArose as the Buddha
\nAnd so on back & forth
\nFor a hundred thousand kappas.<\/p>\n

If you meet the Buddha
\nYou meet the Goddess,
\nIf you meet the Goddess
\nYou meet the Buddha.
\nNot only that. This:
\nThe Buddha is the Goddess,
\nThe Goddess is the Buddha.
\nAnd not only that. This:
\nThe Buddha is emptiness
\nThe Goddess is bliss.
\nAnd that is what
\nAnd what-not you are
\nIt\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

So here comes the mantra of the Goddess & the Buddha,
\nthe unsurpassed non-dual mantra.<\/p>\n

Just to say this mantra, just to hear this mantra once, just to hear
\none word of this mantra once makes everything the way it truly is: OK.<\/p>\n