Buddha’s Birthday Poem 2025

Since time immemorial
How many times have there been spring, summer, autumn, and winter?
How many mountains have arisen and become plains?
How many flowers, bees, trees, and people have lived and died?

A child is born, grows older, and awakens to the question:
Will I die too?
Is there a meaning to all this, and if so, what?
Why fight? Why be unhappy? Why so much suffering?
Why, why, why?

Spinning around in circles, searching for an answer like a frog trapped in a bucket.

Boom!

Suddenly the bucket falls apart, the frog jumps out.

See for the first time with the naked eye
the blue sky, the brown earth, the vast ocean,
people loving, people hating, people fighting, killing, dying . . .

Realize for the first time
That’s me, that’s all me! This sky, this earth, this ocean, all this love, this hate, this killing,

And the dog.

Please don't beat the dog, I beg you, for I am that hungry dog too.
Feed it with loving-kindness so it doesn't bite in despair.
And bring him back home.

I still hear Zen Master Seung Sahn’s voice saying, “When I die, I will be reborn in hell,” and his question, “Will you come with me?”

Hell is indeed the birthplace of all Buddhas.
Where else would there be Buddhas, and where would the work be done?

By just doing it,
each time a Buddha comes into life with hands outstretched:
How can I help you?