Devotion

{A reflection for the 25th parinirvana of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.}

We walk over the same bark, rock, and soft needled earth

but we have transformed,

tamed by your smile

and the twinkle of your eyes over your glasses,

as you teach and tease “Is that so?”

This seminary world would not exist without you, the kingpin,

who points out that nothing exists absolutely,

while appearances continue to arise vividly.

How quickly individual karma ripens here

and how workable is that which was unworkable!

Even our children catch your bodhisattva fever to practice

and be kind.

Your vast mind, like the Rocky Mountain blue sky,

accommodates the boredom of suchness

as well as the fiery drama of storms at sunset.

Little details of life—

flags waving over red earth

and pale sage shining in the hot sun,

hummingbirds and swallows exploring the shrine tent

above our heads,

hawks swirling in the lavender evening light—

All these moments penetrate ignorance like your trident

or one movement of your right hand.

Now the shrine tent glows in the dark,

its stillness tangibly stopping the flow of karma inside,

even as the grass outside sways in the wind.

But we, like the pines, are still,

unflappable,

feeling the power of samadhi.

 

Written with heart-filled devotion to the root guru, the Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, during the Mahayana section of RMDC Seminary 1985 by Linda V. Lewis

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Editor: Kate Bartolotta