I hacked my way through six forests

I hacked my way through six forests
until the moon woke up inside me.
The sky's breath sang through me,
dried up my body's substance.
I roasted my heart in passion's fire
and found Shankara!







Lalla
English version by Ranjit Hoskote
Photo:  Peter Bowers

Intense cold makes water ice

Intense cold makes water ice.

Then the hard ice turns to slush

and back to water, so there are three

forms of consciousness: the individual,

the world, and God, which in the sun

of True Awareness melt to one flowing:

Lalla is that.

In meditation, I entered the love furnace,

burned impurities away, and as the sun

of a new knowing rose, I realized

that the words "Lalla" and "God"

point to this peacefulness.

Lalla
English version:   Coleman Barks
Photos:  Peter Bowers

the only teaching

Enlightenment absorbs this universe of qualities.

When that merging occurs, there is nothing

but God.  This is the only doctrine.

There is no word for it, no  mind

to understand it with, no categories

of transcendence or non-transcendence,

no vow of silence, no mystical attitude.

There is no Shiva and no Shakti

in enlightenment, and if there is something

that remains, that whatever-it-is

is the only teaching.

Lalla

Photo:  Peter Bowers