Buddhadasa Verse

[sabaijai]

CENTENARY OF BUDDHADASA BHIKKHU'S BIRTH

LET'S EAT TIME TOGETHER

Look well, friends, the difference between night & day

is nothing to get excited about - study this well!

Contemplate deeply as the wise ones do,

seeing it's all just "time" of equal value.

Whether bright or dark, don't let your desires

stretch or compress time into shorter or longer

periods that devour and digest the lives of beings.

Be careful not to let it slice and chew you to bits.

In other words, have no "Me" that is "Mine"

to live or to die. Drop your foolish worries,

emptying mind of Ego and realise Voidness -

that's how to eat time and kill it thoroughly.

(From the January 2003 calendar entry)

'Buddhadasa Bhikkhu's Ethical Poems (1998-2003)', translated into English by Santikaro and published by Sukkhaphab Jai.