December is a lovely time for the Northern Hemisphere... Cute snowflakes fall and people are in good cheer. Even with a financial crisis purported to be the greatest since the Great Depression, having Christmas around the corner buffers everything with a soft white mood...
A year ago, I celebrated the Bodhisatta Siddharta's birthday with a Silent Night.
This Christmas, I would like sing this song for the Buddha's enlightenment:
Starry Starry Night.
or "Vincent" by Don McLean.
Vincent Van Gogh, for whom the song was dedicated to, wasn't a Buddhist at all. In fact, he was a son of a priest and was a preacher himself. But as we read these lyrics, we can paint a different picture from his...
Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
On the 39th night of sitting under the Pipala tree, the Buddha was perfecting his practice of Vipassana... From the 1st watch of the night to the 4th, he recalled his past lives and the past lives of others, and penetrated into the interdepedent arising of all phenomena. In doing so, he destroyed the cankers that held him to the Wheel of Rebirth. What did these enlightened eyes see when they were first opened on this world after kalpas of darkness?
Master Thich Nhat Hanh put it beautifully.
He saw a heart-shaped leaf of the Pipala tree against the starry, starry night sky. And within the leaf he saw that the stars and suns of the universe were in it, for the leaf used light to nourish itself.
He saw the grey clouds against the blue sky, and within the leaf the clouds also existed. For the leaf needed the rain to grow and thrive.
A starry starry night, a palette of blue and grey... That was what the enlightened eyes saw...
Look out on a summer's day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
... and the enlightened eyes also saw the darkness in the souls of men... the dust in our eyes that prevented us from seeing what the Tathagatha saw...
Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.
Beauty was what the Enlightened Ones see... Simplicity in the wonderous world, where everywhere there was something to marvel and be contented about.
Now I think I know...
...what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity!
How you tried to set us free!
We would not listen, we're not listening still.
Perhaps,
We never will...
3 comments:
The first time I listened to this song (while the person was telling me the story of VVG), tears flowed down my cheeks IMMEDIATELY. so touching....so sad...
What does WG mean?
vincent van gogh, the artist who painted the painting "a starry night". wiki for him...
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