Wesak: Full Moon of the Buddha

At the full moon of May is the Wesak festival. Masters from all religions gather in their subtle bodies at a Tibetan valley near Mount Kailas to honor the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha, generating a blessing for the whole world. On this sacred night, I give thanks for the Dharma gift of each great wisdom tradition.

From Islam, the beauty of modesty. From Hinduism, the playfulness of God. From Buddhism, not grasping any thing, because emptiness itself overflows.

From Judaism, the presence of all history now, redeeming humanity by a family meal. From Sikhism, the synergy of science and the spirit.

From Taoism, the dance of opposites. From Bahai, the unity of faiths. From Christianity, the knowledge that love is a Person.

And from indigenous tribal people, the most primordial revelation: shamanic energy coursing through our sacred bodies.

The Goddess ecstatically whirls the earth and moon in their orbits, yet dwells in my very flesh as the incense of this breath. Her medicine drum is my heartbeat. Her bone rattle, filled with bright seeds, is my skull. And the fire at the center of our wild song-circle is the light in each others eyes.

High tide in my body,

each cell drunk with moonlight,

muttering "thank you, thank you,"

to whom? to whom?

Gazing from awakened space

where everything

has already happened

and I have not been born,

how tiny precious earth appears,

dangling like a tear

on long black lashes

from the eye of compassion

that never sleeps.