SELF-PONDERING CHANT

The utmost homage we pay

To Buddha, Greatest always.

To Dhamma and Sangha bright,

We seek their guiding light.

From deities high above

We ask their sacred love.

For this SELF-PONDERING CHANT,

May wisdom ever enchant

Through countless lives of ignorance,

We built a false significance

Ourselves as worthy we proclaim

The seed of every sin and shame.

This fleeting body we hold dear,

Will fade away and disappear

A vessel bound to age and pain,

To illness, death, and life’s refrain

For wealth and fame, we crave and fight,

We scramble on with blinded sight

Mistakes are made in every breath

And stray we do from paths of faith

The food we take each day,

Brings lives we’ve swept away

From others’ toil, our feasts are met,

And grow our vast and heavy debt.

What is the self, we know

A flame that burns so slow

A shadow’s fleeting glow

The seed of endless woe

Firstly, the Self’s our frame

Too fleeting to sustain

It suffers constant pain

A trap where we remain.

Secondly, the Self feels,

The joy that sorrow steals,

The anger that it seals,

The grief that never heals

Thirdly, the Self is thought,

With words and images caught,

It reckons what is sought,

And peace is never brought.

We ourselves are bad karma,

Drifting far beneath dharma

Like the waves upon the sea

Bound by sins, we seek to flee

We ourselves are foolishness,

Driven by unending greed

We want to own everything,

Holy judgment we dismissing

We ourselves are burning hate,

Gathered from a distant date

It consumes our hearts with fire

And clouds our minds without tire

We are the deep arrogance,

Look down on other persons

Showing no respect or care

Lust takes root and festers there

We’re the extreme selfishness,

Caring for our own success

Taking no notice at all

Of those around as they fall

We are the cruelty, so wrong,

We make the enmity grow long

Our hearts know this is not the way

Yet still in shadows, we choose to stay

We finally are something,

A fleeting hallucination

Nothing of us is ever real

But karma’s grip we always feel

If we have committed a sin,

Nowhere is for us to win

The karma will stay around

And force us to pay it down

Why must we always face,

The darkness in our deep place

When going on practicing,

For ignorance erasing?

There is an amazing law,

The Karma, that we must draw

We need to grasp and apply

To guide us as we live by.

For how we see good or bad

Shapes the journey that we’ve had

In time, those traits we embrace

Will slowly vanish, leave no trace

If we think we’re wise enough,

To handle all the earthly stuff

It won’t take long before we see,

That we will fail entirely.

If we see that we’re sinful,

And truly deserve the blame,

Then as time goes by, we’ll find,

Good lucks get almost behind.

If we often think and say,

We’re gorgeous, moonlight’s display,

Then the mirror will reveal,

Another face, cold and real

If we think we are so grand,

life is resting in our hand

Then one day, the skies will roar,

Sweeping all we’ve built before

New results of meditation

Bring a fleeting revelation

Serenity feels so near,

Then the mind dissolves in fear

Those who can grasp this secret truth

May use it well in their pursuit.

To ponder how their own Self is,

And walk the path of a true Buddhist

We must reflect on our own faults,

The hidden ones within the vaults

They fade away and slowly cease,

Until our minds can find their peace

We should not think or boast aloud,

That all our good deeds make us proud

Good deeds can never be enough

To cleanse our past, so dark and rough

We should reflect on our mistakes,

And all the flaws our being makes

This keeps us humble, calm, and kind,

While bringing ease into the mind.

Our flaws will fade away with time,

If we can see them, clear, sublime.

A wondrous path that lights the way,

To help us leave samsara’s sway.

If we admire our strong points,

They’ll fade away like worn-out joints.

One day, there will be nothing left,

And we’ll be lost, alone, bereft.

If someone thinks he’s truly good,

And claims serene and truth he’s stood,

Then troubles soon will cloud his mind,

And burdens will his spirit bind.

Even in states of deep repose,

Where tranquil calm within us grows,

If we hold tight and contemplate,

The fleeting peace will dissipate.

We must grow wiser as we strive,

Though peace and powers may arrive.

Despite the heights we may have caught,

We must stay cautious in our thought.

We must accept and realize,

That ignorance, a force, defies.

It cannot fade or clear with ease,

It hides within our mind’s deep seas.

We must accept and realize,

Our past sins reach to boundless skies.

Through countless lives, though rough

and tough,

Repentance is never enough.

Ups and downs define our life,

Cheers and sorrows carve our strife.

We must reflect and not forget,

The dreadful sins we’ve ever set.

Sometimes we’re happy, sometimes sad,

Meditation is rough and mad.

But we must keep this truth in mind:

Ignorance still hides deep inside.

Pondering sins and ignorance

Prevents us from arrogance.

Which is extremely dangerous

And always is ambiguous.

Pondering sins and ignorance

Erodes the mind’s dark absence.

It welcomes light into the heart,

And a new life will have its start.

No matter what we face in life,

Be it of joy or full of strife,

We try to see and understand,

That our Self is never grand.

At first, our body is but frail,

A fleeting thing, easy to fail.

It suffers a heavy burden,

Because all feels so broken.

The body needs food to survive,

Clothes and shelter keep it alive.

How much hard work we have to spend,

For needs that seem to never end.

The body holds so many feelings,

That lead us into endless dealings.

We chase the joys that bring delight,

And flee the sorrows of the night.

The body links the mind as one,

And so, the Self has been done.

Invisible and full of might,

It leads to meanness, greed, and spite.

By reflecting on this body,

We can know the difficulty

That all beings must strive to bear,

Through countless lives with all their care.

Don’t think we’ve reached a higher plane,

Even when results seem to gain

Seek out the flaws that still reside,

Hidden somewhere deeply inside.

Our fellows, there’s a truth so far:

Whatever we think we are,

Then it will no longer exist,

So we can choose what to desist.

Once we grasp the Self entirely,

We cannot keep being lazy

Do good deeds with each passing day,

To bring more blessings on our way.

Too long in deep sin and darkness,

Now we strive to be industrious

Doing all to win good karma’s ring

With no complaints, nor any sobbing

Altruistic life is unchanged,

Bliss for others is steady trend.

Buddhistic planet is all hope,

No-Self is always noble scope.

When the moon shines on the quiet night,

We meditate beneath Buddha’s light,

Looking at the Self, which is just

Ignorance and sins, dreadful dust.

We also feel the breath in and out,

And cleverly keep it, free of doubt.

Slow, little, and soft, with tender care,

No matter what happens out there.

The bottom of the abdomen,

Where helps our mind stop its run

Where meditation finds its focus

And bustling thoughts no longer fret us

One day, when blessings are enough,

We find a breath both smooth and tough,

That connects the mind together,

Making it calm, like still weather.

We just grasp the proper breath,

And guide the mind with gentle stead.

Once the breath holds its true volume,

Mind and Breath share a winsome tune.

No words can ever express,

The breath’s true, clever finesse.

It binds the mind and breath as one,

Known only through practice begun.

It is truly a sacred grace,

From all Buddhas across vast space,

For showing us the noble Way,

And how to give others love’s ray.

My absolute homage to my greatest

master,

Sakyamuni Buddha, the Enlightened

One (3 times)