8 Oct
2015
Posted in: Poems
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What Else Is There To Do?

While I was visiting with Mirabai after the CDL retreat, she told me about an event she organized, in which Jack Kornfield read this letter from his friend, the poet Alison Luterman:

“Don’t tell anyone, but even as a good Jewish girl I love Jesus. I love his dark Semitic eyes and how his friends are all the poor and the prostitutes. He’s just that Buddhist Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokitesvara, except his name is easier to pronounce. It’s hard to yell for Avalokitesvara when you’re in big trouble, but ‘Oh Jesus!’ comes naturally. I just don’t want to die saying ‘Oh shit.’ I want to die like a lama, lie on my right side, and turn my head in the direction of my next birth. I know I have to meditate a lot to do this and well, let’s face it, I haven’t started early enough in my life to ever get there, I’m afraid, and following Jesus seems so much easier. All you have to do is love everyone. 

“Well, ‘seems’ is the critical word here. Sometimes it seems impossible, especially with the particular people around you, but then if you really look, you realize what else is there to do? What else is there to do?” 

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