NIRVANA IN PARIS - or - NEHAN-ZU 涅槃図 ~ PARINIRVANA by LB 慈
The fire is extinguished Even the smouldering embers Maybe the wheel will spin again Splattered with The remnants Of a dry land
In the led and dead Of a lamp black night A new moon On this cloud covered eve Some faint glimpse Of a hazy crescent
Between the two sal trees You were born And to your birthplace you were returning With pain and fatigue They laid you down You there with the white petals falling
The sound of weeping A ground soaked with the rain of tears Even the white elephant the mouse The wild boar the spotted deer The snake the monkey the dog The tiger weeping
The moon was black And the sky was red And all those who had gathered Saw from the heavens A descending cloud Of angels
Drowning their cries The spokes of a wheel spinning One ought not dig the Earth Mix medicines observe the star's positions Predict the phases of the moon Perform magick or lead people ashtray
With an unmuddied mind and mindful diligence Seek to awake from some dark slumber Be content with any offering The precepts are your liberation And the extinction of your misery Equanimity tranquility
Keep your senses guarded As a cowherd Grips his stick To keep the cows From wanderin' Into another man's seedbed
If you indulge your five desires As some blinkered mare in a race With a bit in the mouth Being whipped to the last Both the rider and the horse Will fall into a ditch
The pain caused by the five senses Will last many lifetimes Never neglect Mindfulness Guard them five like prisoners And extinguish extinguish the fires
Fear that mind more than any viper's venom Wild beasts vengeful robbers Even great fires 'n raging floods bear no comparison As a man running with a pot of honey heedless to a deep hole Like some mad elephant unchained A monkey jumping madly in the sun
Subdue subdue Determine Strive Pop Diligently in one place Receive just that battered fish Enough to avoid starvation
Do not sleep But as night is day In this big blue sphere All things are consumed By the fires Of impermanence
Like some black cobra Under your pillow Passions will be driven out No shame no conscience No clothing No iron gaff
If someone comes And dismembers every limb Joint by joint not a drop of hate And lest from that red mouth Out any devil word In some scorpion hot chili pepper
Practice patience like the granite Of Crazy Horse dynamited Into the Black hills of Dakota And there drink the poison of abuse As if the nectar of the flowers Of Mount Olympus
These shattered panes These desert sands Through the hour glass No teaching no way No lightning no thunder Just a light a feathery cloud
Your shaven skull No hare No jewels On the raggedy plains No supper bowl Just this begging eye
No pride No hymn no lie Just that rolling plateau So high That air So thin
Just a glimpse Through a hole In the cirrus clouds That peak O' Chomolungma
Big desire You win a while But then your losing streak Few or none Without sorrow Merit without merit
No trickery Tranquility without worry Whatever is the hand No insufficiency Nothing lacking Nirvana
A bee at ease and content Prosperous even with just the earth to lie upon Queen Bee in your gilded palace No jelly no contentment No satisfaction Poor bee
A lotus blooms At a quiet station Leave that hubbub of society Living alone in the mountains By some little seaside abode With Indra's cats
Extinction seclusion A flock of birds in the danger Of a withering tree Into the quicksand The ego sinks The elephant swamp
Nothing will be difficult! But strive diligently and nothing will be difficult Like a constant trickle of water Bores a hole in a rock Indolence is rubbing wood No spark no fire
With mindfulness seek the teacher No mindfulness and no emptiness Like armour in the battlefield nothing to fear With a concentrated mind for the wisdom water A scattered mind And surely the levée will break
No greed one eightfold path Whether layman or not That dark stout ship Will carry you a cross The seas of old age disease death This eternal life
A great lamp on the blue cliffs Illuminates that ink black night That cure that medicine for sickness A sharp axe cuts the tree of passions Listening practicing your song The brightness of wisdom will appear
Useless idle chatter a mind like a spaghetti junction Shunning every form of self-indulgence Strive weather by the sea by the water Under a tree or in a quiet room The forget-me-nots bloom Like some doctor who prescribes a medicine
A harbour of doubts But if the moon grows hot and the sun grows cold The bell of suffering rings true No happiness with attachments The destruction of the path of misery The sound of four noble horses galloping into the horizon
Denizens of the crow black night A flash of lightnin'! a boat awaits to cross the sea O swift your passing but don't you grieve! By your bedside you all possess the conditions to waking up The dharma will not be destroyed All is impermanent
I fold a dead man's hand This evil thing the body is to be discarded Drowning into the deserts of disease and death Who cannot rejoice at getting rid of it Disappearing through the smoke rings Silencio! I am crossing over
This grand finale, Enfants, En fin.
Nehan-zu depict the mourning deities, humans and animals gather to witness the death and entry into nirvana of the historical Buddha. From the moonlit sky descends his mother Maya. Such scrolls would typically be displayed at solemn nehan-e ceremonies held in temples on the 15th day of the 2nd month each year to commemorate the death of the Buddha.
