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Finding the Right Poem to Honor Thay

04 Feb 2023 4:30 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

By SHERI LISKER


I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Not because I didn’t want to – after all, what better way to honor a beloved teacher than with his own words? But again and again, my efforts to select the poem by Thich Nhat Hanh to commemorate his transition from life that also was most meaningful to me encountered obstacles.


Our teacher Fred had invited members to bring favorite poems and quotes of  Thich Nhat Hahn to our Tuesday night sharing. I was not that acquainted with Thây Nhat Hanh’s poetry. I knew that the title poem of the collection Call Me By My True Names mentions a young girl’s suicide after pirates rape her.


Since this was written by Thây, the poem is not focused on the rape, but on interbeing, how all of us, the most wretched, the most brutal, the earth, the buds on a tree, the mayflies, the frogs, even the Politiburo, are one. It turned out that one member read that poem and another member analyzed parts of it – demonstrating how truly interrelated we are!


I had figured I might point to the two quotes I have on my wall: Peace in oneself, peace in the world, which is fairly self-explanatory, and Are you sure of your perceptions? because I have often been mistaken on my own. I also could refer to my walking meditation mantras: Arriving/ Home and Touching/ Earth.


But 30 minutes before the start of the discussion, I thought it might not hurt to look for a poem. I chose the one from the Plum Village website I deemed most appropriate: Oneness, which begins with the words The moment I die/I will come back to you/as quickly as possible. But our program started with a beautifully sung rendition of this poem and I could not imagine following that.


Luckily, I had a back-up: Bhumasutra. I hadn’t read this poem before and moreover, it touched upon a subject I have been grappling with throughout my Buddhist studies: reincarnation. The poem starts with a discussion between a narrator (presumably the poet) and Death, who is challenging him: Aren’t you afraid of me?


Why should I be, the poet asks. Death says, Because I can end you, to which Thây replies, You can never end me: I will return again and again.


Death, prosecutorial, asks for a witness to these statements. And the poet calls the earth. Death hears the music of this world, the birds, sees the trees blossoming and “melts in the loving gaze of Earth.”


The poem ends with the narrator addressing his beloved (all of us). When you fear, he tells us, touch the earth deeply and “your sorrow will melt away.” In this way you will touch the deathless. This seemed appropriate for the anniversary of Thây Nhat Hanh leaving his body.


I listened to the sharing of the other members. One woman recited a poem she’d written to Thây. What a creative approach, I thought. Others shared poems and quotes as I nodded and thought, That was a good one. John McHarris shared the morning gatha: I wake with a smile/Twenty-four brand new hours before me/ I vow to live fully in the present moment/ and to look at all beings with the eyes of compassion. That gatha got me through the depression stages of early Covid isolation. Angie Parrish shared a piece on how our presence is the greatest gift we can give others. Amen, I thought.


I began to question my choice of a poem – had it been the best choice? The one most relevant to me and my life? After our session, I looked at a copy of The Raft and saw another famous Thich Hhat Hanh quote: A cloud never dies. A cloud becomes rain, which waters a flower, whose seeds are planted in the earth and become part of the earth, part of us. And there I had it: reincarnation explained in a pragmatic and poetic way. I realized that as in so many times before, Thay had gifted me with just what I needed just when I needed it. 


I bow to my teachers, Fred and Thây Nhat Hanh, and to all my teachers, those generous beings in the FCM sangha.


Sheri Lisker is a member of FCM from Sarasota. 

Florida Community of Mindfulness, Tampa Center
6501 N. Nebraska Avenue
Tampa, FL 33604

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