Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time is such a nice beginning. 
It fills in receptive ears and welcoming hearts that are warm and willing to receive. 

It evokes timelessness and stories that have endured the ravages and consequences of time, as well as its melancholic memoirs and nostalgic novembers. But time itself is nothing but a marker to remind man of the passage of all things, and in time, all things must pass. Having said that, it is that very reason that makes life what it is; bittersweet, glorious, tragic, touching, endearing and an epitaph that makes us pause, ponder awhile and the strength to move on and go on.

The passage of that time in space where we are is like the shooting star; a celestial brief that makes us smile and wonder. 
A rainbow that makes us forget the vagaries of life and stills and calms the flash-flooding in us; even if it be brief and fleeting. 
That is probably the reason why they say one can live a lifetime in a moment. 
Without that sense of bewilderment, happiness is just another word we can spell about and never really come to know.

"Decay is inherent in all component things! Work out your salvation with diligence!" So said a boy named Siddhartha when He became The Buddha at the tender age of thirty five as he lay in serenity breathing in his last gasp of impermanence (The Great Passing Away) - his final lesson and teaching at the ripe old age of eighty. Like all the Buddhas of the past, like all the Buddhas of the future, He was born, reached enlightenment and passed away on the Full Moon of the Fourth Lunar Month, which this year is celebrated today; June 4, 2012.

I do not know if there are still stories being told- around a warm hearth, out in the breezy dusk lights on hot summer days, around a kitchen fire in cold winter nights, or to the sound of monsoon rains drumming the roof and the ground; on renewed spring blossoms or out on a stroll hand in hand during gold-leafed autumn days.

In the end we are all stories, and the passage of every being is both natural and sad, but happiness and joy abounds when stories are told of times gone by. The beautiful part is that when we tell stories, there are no such things as bad folks, societies or countries. All of that vanishes and what remains are memories of beings that lived and strived to be happy in their own way, no matter in what way, shape or form the choices were made the pursuit was always on as it still is. 

The bird may be caged to the skies, but it still flies above fences, walls, boundaries and borders. 

It transcends the delusional divisions and the remnants are purified. 
The residue is thus a fond memoir.

On occasions such as these, we all become a little more aware of the precious boons we have been granted and been endowed with. It makes our hearts that much more receptive, appreciative and a sense of gratitude arises as spontaneously.

Today is indeed such an occasion; a beautiful occasion indeed! To go and pay one's tributes to The Tathagatha and the path he paved for us all, and to celebrate the Birthday of Her Majesty, Our Kind and Loving Dragon Queen and so much more. 

"The Tathagatha,

And The Eight-Fold Noble Path-

What else Do You Need?"

A rhetorical question of an attempted Haiku I'd put out to bedazzle myself! There are no definitives to anything but having said that, to some things, there are certain definitives; such as a queen.

A queen was what we needed.

I've not been able to sleep, on account of being rather too acquainted with the nocturnal life. But this night, which slowly dawns outside the windows, keeps me awake for reasons other than my usual wanderings. The attic I live in has a square transparent tin-sheet on the roof: a see-through; a view to the sky. There are pigeons and now they coo. Now they stir from their nests. I hear the chirps of other winged feathers and the odd wee-hour sounds of vehicles revving up their engines for another day's hustle and bustle.

And I have been lost for words the last couple of weeks and days leading up to this very designate-day and what it really means. 

There was a jam in my head. Now I see how I was trying too hard. Anything that comes from the heart and is fed with a sense of gratitude cannot be mulled over too much. It takes away from the sacredness of the occasion we will be absorbing and celebrating and its spontaneity. I'd not realized that I'd already celebrated the proceedings even as I was logged and jammed in a myriad maze of thoughts and its infinite conclusions minus solutions. 

You see; I smile every time I see Our Queen. And I smile even at the thought- of Her Majesty The Queen because there is something about Her. I'd had a big stupid grin of happiness smacked on my face when His Majesty The King announced and shared with us, His subjects whom He holds so near and dear, His impending decision to marry what He said was a beautiful human being in the form and shape of Jetsun Pema. On that noted day, that natural warm smile on His Majesty's compassionate visage was ever more radiant, telling us and sharing with us a woman whom he described as a young and compassionate being who would make us all proud and fulfill her sacred duties to the utmost as Our Queen.

I grinned and smiled a great big smile as I gazed upon and heard His Majesty's address on the telly. It brought us even more closer to Him and if ever a bond was forged without a bondage, it was and is the relationship of His Majesty The King and His people.

When we caught our first glimpse of the Dragon Queen to-be, it was love at first sight! 

Once upon a time isn't just a beginning, its a process in itself- rooted and embedded through many Karmic ties without being blinded but rather envisioned, freed and strengthened.

I was happy for My King, and I was happy for Our Queen to-be, and I was happy for Our People and Our Buddha Blessed Kingdom.

Since that joyful day, many moons have come and gone; waxed and waned, and together with that natural phenomena, so has the love between Our King and Queen and now hand in hand, their love towards us and our love and reverence for a match I believe was Made in Heaven. It is both endearing and loving, kind and courageous and a picture of hope and optimism. The People's King had someone by his side whom He loves and to the fortunate Karma of the Kingdom and its citizens, wed not just a beautiful woman but also a beautiful human being in the person of Jetsun Pema; the Flawless Lotus and as if on cue, we had been aptly gifted yet another gem from the Dragon Throne; The People's King now had the perfect bride; The People's Queen.

That Her Majesty celebrates her twenty second birthday today on the same day The Tathagatha entered unto Parinirvana is indeed more cause to pay tribute to and be what we can all be- good human beings as His Majesty keeps demonstrating.

That we have such a young and generous Queen who, though young in time, now provides love, companionship and more to His Majesty and to us; their humble and proud subjects, is in itself such an uplifting thought. 

To see Their Majesties touring the country together; 
a benevolent smile here, an encouraging word there, and to know we have a King who will guide Her Majesty, and to know that we have a Queen who will soften the many unseen and unsaid hardships and sacrifices His Majesty so naturally undertakes for and on our behalf is in itself such a comforting thought.

That they have each other to turn to is such a grateful relief.

If marriages are made in heaven, then this union was brought down to earth to illustrate the meaning of such a union: togetherness, sacrifice, altruism, a love that is on a higher plane, companionship, solace, empathy and what it means to really Care and Be Caring.

May Your Majesty always remain as pure and as flawless as the lotus that sprouts without a speck of dust yet stays wisely rooted in the complexities of life; and wisely just and justly wise as symbolized in Your auspicious name. 

And in doing that, epitomizing the meaning of simplicity as Siddhartha did.

The sun now beams its rays through the windows in the attic I live in, providing me with light and a chance to live another day as best as I possibly can... May Your Majesty be like the light that shines in, through the cracks of life; providing vision where there is darkness, wisdom where there is ignorance, optimism where there is hopelessness, courage where there is failure, and love where there is none. 

May Your Majesty become the very beacon that tells lost souls that "This Is Home and You Have Arrived..."

And May Your Majesty always arrive there safely, even as we are guided by that light... with His Majesty by Your side, and the Protector Deities of Our Beloved Kingdom and its folks, who will celebrate this beautiful day of Your Birth and The Tathagatha's Painirvana, and give thanks that we have in our midst a Caring and Compassionate Queen we will always love and who will reciprocate that back a hundred fold.

This is a story I'm telling my son, and a story someday he'll pass on to his son... a story that will be told manifold; around a warm hearth, out in cool meadows on hot summer evenings and around campfires in cold wintry months and to the music of the monsoon raindrops, the renewing spring and in gold-laden autumn days.

"Once upon a time;

Is such a beautiful Line-

May it never end!"

a Heart Felt Happy Birthday Your Majesty and Tashi Delek Phuensum Tshok! 

With Reverence and with Love  and Prayers (^)

Your most humble albeit a proud subject,

Jurmi Chhowing    

   

SAKA DAWA, THE MOON OF LORD BUDDHA’S BIRTH, ENLIGHTENMENT AND PARINIRVANA

"Like all the Buddhas of the past, like all the Buddhas of the future, He was born, reached enlightenment and passed away on the Full Moon of the 4^th Lunar Month, which this year is celebrated today; June 4, 2012" 

Ages Ago

He made the promise to become an enlightened Buddha for the sake of all beings many ages ago, much before our last Big-Bang. At that time his name was Megha. That spring he had finished his studies and was walking back home. When he reached the city of his parents he saw it adorned with garlands and all sorts of magnificent banners. Innocent and quite naif, he thought that they were welcoming him, but everybody was walking in the same direction and didn’t pay any attention to him. Except for a charming young girl that carried a tray filled with lotus blossoms, who greeted him. He asked her where was everybody going, and she said, “Where have you been? The great Buddha is coming to our city today, with all his monks, everybody is so happy”.  Megha worried about not having any present for the Buddha, so the girl offered to share her flowers with him, and they strolled together to the place where the enlightened One was to appear. When they were in front of Him, who was carried in a beautiful high palanquin, Megha threw their flowers in his direction, and the lotus blossoms on their own accord became a beautiful crown standing around the Buddha’s head. Megha said to the Buddha: "I wish to become like You, an enlightened One for the sake of all beings". And the Blessed one replied: "You will become like me, an enlightened One for the sake of all beings. Many eons from now, you will show your enlightenment at the foot of the Bodhi tree, like I did".

The Life of Siddharta 

And so it came to happen, that after innumerable life times when he was born as a Bodhisattva to help beings in all sorts of realms of existence, he finally was born a few years ago, merely two thousand five hundred and fifty something years, to King Suddhodana and his wife Queen Maya, in the city of Kapilavastu. They called him Siddharta and he lost his mother very young. Alerted by his astrologers that his son was to become either a universal emperor, a Chakravartin, or universal sage, a Buddha, his father took extreme, exagerated care of him, protecting him from even knowing about the sufferings of this life, like old age, infirmity, poverty and death. The prince was surrounded by unending delights and as soon as he reached adolescence he received an entourage of many attractive young girls, along with a beautiful wife, Yashodhara. They lived like that, in a wide territory with different palaces for different seasons, for many years. During all those years it was forbidden to allow close to the prince any person who was old, or disabled, or poor.

Nevertheless the young prince was not a simpleton, he was the most intelligent and able of his generation, excelling at archery and all the mundane arts. One day he was riding Kantaka, his horse, together with his noble companions, and they reached the edge of the woods of his father’s domains. Without the others noticing, Siddharta dismounted to sit under an apple tree to rest from the burning sun, and stayed there contemplating the fields ahead, the work of men breaking the soil and sowing, observing how their effort was painful, and how they were forced to kill so many small beings to pursue their task, and he felt a deep sorrow in his heart.

When he was twenty nine years old he demanded to be allowed to go to the great city that he had never visited. The king agreed but secretly sent his soldiers to order all sick and old people to disappear from the road where the prince was going to pass. Of course this plan was absurd and the road was not as clean from suffering people as the king had wanted it to be. Among the crowd of gay people greeting him, Siddharta perceived for the first time a sick, disabled person, then an old man with all the signs of old age. Appalled, he turned to his friend and charioteer, Chandaka, who told him that everybody, unless they died young, were going to be old, and were going to be sick sooner or later. At the edge of the city they reached the crematory grounds and there the prince had the last revelation: a corpse was being carried to the burning pire.

Before returning home they also saw a mendicant wanderer, a holy man sitting in meditation. When he reached the palace of his father his decision was taken and he requested the king permission to abandon the royal life and follow the life of the renunciate. The king offered him anything he desired but begged his son not to leave. Siddharta replied that he would stay if his father could assure him that he was going to protect him from sickness, old age and death. Sadly, the king had to admit that he was unable to do that.

All the Buddhas to be manifested have to have a son before renouncing the householder’s life. That day Yashodhara gave birth to a son. His father named him Rahula … the obstacle. His heart had now to renounce not only the life of a prince, all his companions and his beloved wife, but also the most cherished being, his own newborn son, in order to go and seek the welfare of all beings. In the middle of the night, helped by the gods who plunged the palace in a quiet sleep, he mounted Kantaka and left with his faithful charioteer. When they were far away, he gave Chandaka his horse and his clothes and sent them back, he cut his hair and put on some rags, and all alone he abandoned life as he had known it.

The Wanderer 

For six years he wandered in search of liberation. He had the two highest Masters of philosophy and meditation of those years, but when he mastered the same levels of meditation as his teachers he realized that meditation alone was not going to get them nor himself to liberation from the wheel of conditioned existence, samsara. He abandoned the life of a disciple and went away with five companions to the woods, to practice the most severe asceticism.

He learned first how to survive with a few grains of rice, then how to survive just fasting. In the end he was so emaciated that he had only the skin hanging from his skeleton, all his flesh had gone. But his mind was not clear either, and having gone to the end of that path he realized that with asceticism he was not going to reach liberation. When he announced his companions that he was going to break the fast, they made fun of him and abandoned him.

He went to the Jamuna river where he took a bath. His rags had disintegrated so he washed a yellow shroud that had covered the corpse of a servant girl and covered with it his own body. The young daughter of a brahmin, Sujata, offered a bowl of rice and milk, that he accepted. Upon eating it, his body was restored to his full strength, and he looked for a cave in which to meditate. But the gods told him that he had to seat under the tree where all the Buddhas of the past had manifested their enlightenment.

The Last Temptations

When he sat under the Bodhi tree he had decided that he would not move until he understood the causes of being’s enslavement to death and rebirth. Understanding his decision, the Earth had a tremor of joy and anticipation that alerted the tempter, Mara, the powerful king of desire, that somebody was going to dare put and end to his dominion. He came with his terrifying magic and power, and staged a complete attack against the Boddhisattva, with storms of water and wind and fire and the clapping of thunder like the end of the eon. The meditator was undisturbed. Then Mara deployed his hosts of otherworldly warriors that attacked with the most varied and powerful weapons … that transformed in flowers when reaching the unmovable yogi.

Thus beaten, the tempter tried something different. He sent a sweet breeze, some intoxicating perfumes, and the three most adorable goddesses that any male could desire, his own daughters, who started dancing in front of Siddharta. When this childish trick failed too, then Mara came in person and invoked the Law, telling his enemy that he had no right whatsoever to sit under the tree of the enlightened Ones and to defy his reign. Without uttering a word, the Bodhisattva touched with his fingers the Earth who had carried him for such innumerable life times and knew all of his deeds of merit that had finally brought him to the place prophesied to him by a forgotten Buddha of the past. The Earth, his best witness, shook in approval and Mara left, defeated.

The Full Moon of Enlightenment

While the moon rose in the sky, the light of supreme knowledge rose in the mind of the Boddhisattva. He contemplated first his own past lives, and then he saw the birth and rebirth of all beings, going up and down the wheel of samsara blown by the winds of karma and mental afflictions, from worlds of vanishing enjoyments to worlds of pain and torture, life after life enduring the unending cycle of suffering.

When the moon reached the peak of its splendor, his mind utterly clear and at peace in the deepest level of meditation, he focused his intelligence in understanding how such horrendous infinite cycle of suffering was perpetuated. He then saw the nature of reality, that things and beings don’t have any inherent existence, that a false perception of self had caught sentient beings in this reign of inescapable suffering. When he understood the unutterable it was dawn. He opened his eyes, fully enlightened, and contemplated something that only Him was able to see: a cluster of splendor, the full moon and the rising sun and the morning star, shining together to greet him, the Sage, the One who knew, the omniscient Buddha.

***Rosariomontenegro

"Decay is inherent in all component things! Work out your salvation with diligence!" 

This was the last word of the Tathāgata.


Ps: YourLustForLifeStartsRightNow!