JAPA

JAPA *

“If there had been only one Buddhist in the woodpile” 

the poet of the people wrote **

after the tragedy in Waco, Texas ***

 

ISIS terrorists perverted the name of 

Egyptian mother goddess, protector of all

To kidnap and murder Christians, Yazidi, Sunni 

Could any power have prevented the carnage? 

Only conscience can

The tiniest bit of wonder before the infinite universe

An intimation of the human spirit

A glimpse of beauty and goodness of life and love

compassion for the other--

A glimmer of consciousness might have asked:  

“What do I want to bring into being, to experience?” 

Supreme power over everything and everyone?

Shedding blood of innocents with zeal?

Men of war have ever said thus

With stone cold hearts:

“We will assert power over the weak and helpless

through terror, torture, rape and murder

wearing black masks to cover our faces 

What do the terrorists rule over—

these modern hoards at the gates of civilization? 

Chaos and devastation—keeping watch

lest the same thing befall them

born of pain and malice they engendered in others.

Such is the history of the world—a nightmare 

from which we are trying to awaken

While we wait

chant

meditate

Clapping one hand

*      JAPA comes from a Sanskrit root meaning "to mutter or "to whisper quietly.: It refers to meditative repetition of a mantra or a divine name, holding--a practice in Buddhism. 

**    Lawrence Ferlinghetti in his poem, “A Buddhist in the Woodpile” 

*** The Waco massacre (1993): a siege by US federal government and Texas state law enforcement of a compound belonging to the religious Branch Davidians, (a religious cult), which resulted in the deaths of 86 people, including 28 children,