Seikai Luebke, Rev. Master

These lyrics were written by Rev. Master Seikai in 2019 for the Wesak Festival held at Pine Mountain Buddhist Temple. They have been set to music by Rev. Helen of the Redding Buddhist Priory in Redding, California.

Thus have I heard: The World-Honored One descended from the Tushita Heaven;
To be born one final time into the samsara realm, this world of patience.
In order to realize full awakening and preach the Dharma of a Buddha;
Showing the Noble Path which leads beings out of the darkness of their ignorance and into enlightenment.

His mother, Queen Mahamaya, who lived in the Jambudvipa Continent of India, near to the greatest of snow-covered mountains, the Himalaya;
Stopped on her homeward journey to rest in Lumbini’s Garden, and there gave birth to her son.
This child of the Shakya Clan, who was named Siddhartha—he whose wishes are fulfilled—;
Was heir to the kingdom of Kapilavastu should he choose to rule.

But as a black-haired warrior in the prime of life;
His heart was pierced by sorrow at witnessing the aging, suffering and death of this transient world.
Thus he cut off his hair and entered the homeless life of a wandering monk;
And for six years endured austerities, extreme discipline and hardship.

In his quest to find the truth of human life, the answer to the cause of suffering;
He finally uncovered the Middle Path, avoiding extremes of self-inflicted pain and the dissolute life of pleasure.
Seated under the Bodhi Tree, he realized the Four Great Truths of human life:
The existence of prolonged suffering through many lives; the ignorance and craving which turn the Wheel of Rebirth; the cessation of birth and death which is called Nirvana; and the Noble Eight-fold Path of virtue.

He beheld the great cycle of existence:
That beings are reborn according to their karma generated in previous lives;
That beings may follow an upward path by means of generosity, loving kindness, patience and meditation;
Refraining from causing harm, practicing equanimity, and showing compassion to all living things.

Thus he established the Buddhist Way;
And his uncountable followers formed the Four-fold Sangha of monks and lay devotees, male and female, young and old.
For forty-five years he wore the robes of a monk, carried his alms bowl and taught all around him;
Turning the Wheel of the Dharma, and bringing innumerable beings into the path of awakening.

The great sage of the Shakya Clan, Shakyamuni;
Was as a beacon of light to a world where beings stumble in the darkness of ignorance and confusion.
With great insight, clarity, compassion and wisdom;
He illuminated the Path leading out of never-ending strife, hatred and warfare, suffering and despair.

“All that we are is the result of our thoughts;
If a man thinks and acts with ill-will in his heart, pain follows him like a wagon wheel behind the foot of an ox.
All that we are is the result of our thoughts;
If a man thinks and acts with loving kindness in his heart, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.

For never does hatred cease by hatred here in this world;
Hatred ceases only by love: this is an eternal law.”
The self which seeks for an advantage, to gain or to dominate others, is without reality or substantiality;
All component things have a time of coming into being, a time of existing, and a time of disintegration.

To cling to changing phenomena is the cause of unending misery and affliction;
Search therefore for what is not-born, not-created, not changing—the tranquil abiding of Nirvana.
When Shakyamuni died, he urged his followers to make his teachings the light of their lives;
Cultivating the Precepts of good conduct, for they eliminate defilements caused by seeking for fame or gain.

Further, to practice contentment by knowing when you have enough;
By knowing your own capacity and not exceeding it, and not to engage in too much bustle.
Strive onward in diligence to touch true liberation from birth and death;
Relinquishing grasping and aversion for all things: awakening to lasting peace of mind and heart.

Blessed be the World-Honored One, the One Who Preached the Truth, the Tathagata;
The breaker of the cycle of births and deaths.
The Knower of Worlds, the Unsurpassed One, the Self-enlightened One;
India’s greatest sage, our real teacher Shakyamuni Buddha.