Ripen as Beauty and Pleasure
Last night I sat up reading Verses from the Center, Stephen Batchelor’s lovely translation of the ancient Sanskrit text by Nagarjuna who, according to Batchelor, “is arguably the most important figure in Buddhism after the Buddha himself.”
Here’s a sample:
Seeds turn into plants that bear fruit.
Motives turn into minds that bear fruit.
Seeds are neither severed from
Nor forever fused with fruits of plants,
Motives neither severed from
Nor forever fixed with fruits of minds.
No killing and no stealing,
No abusing and no lying,
No slandering, swearing, gossiping,
No coveting, resenting or fixating:
These pristine acts
Are ways to practice
That ripen as beauty and pleasure
Here and elsewhere.