The House of Prabhutaratna

The House of Prabhutaratna

In notes to the Lotus Sutra it is reported that

Shakyamuni Buddha, after spending eighty years

traveling bare-footed throughout Ganges Valley,

left the earth, went up to heaven,

and visited Prabhutaratna Buddha

in his abode.

The two of them set up house together.

Prabhutaratna ’ s face grew brighter than before

while the face of his guest Sakyamuni

also shone exceedingly bright.

The two got on well together.

Then a bodhisattva declared

Prabhutaratna was the Sakyamuni of the past

while Sakyamuni was the Prabhutaratna of this present age,

so the two became completely one.

The house of Prabhutaratna Buddha, all this time ringing with talk,

grew very quiet. Being one Buddha can be very boring, it seems.

So he went around sleeping with various stars, o

ne tonight, another tomorrow, another the night after.

A penniless child down on earth

gazed up every night at the stars

roaming around the sky.

Translators ’ notes : Shakyamuni ( “ Sage from the Shakya Clan ” ) is an epithet applied to Siddharta Gautama, also known as the Buddha ( “ Awakened ” ). According to some schools of Buddhism, there have been numerous other Buddhas throughout time, who ’ ve attained nirvana, ultimate enlightenment. One such ancient Buddha is known as Prabhutaratna ( “ Myriad Jewels ” ). While some schools teach that one who has attained nirvana ceases entirely to exist after physical death, the Buddhist scripture entitled The Lotus Sutra teaches that nirvana is not annihilation. As a sign of this, it tells that when Shakyamuni Buddha was preaching its contents, Prabhutaratna appeared in his abode to hear him. A bodhisattva is a person who is ready for or who has even attained enlightenment but has also vowed to help all beings become enlightened.

Ko Un

Ko Un, SSN, * is Korea's foremost living writer. After immense suffering during the Korean War, he became a Buddhist monk. His first poems were published in 1958, and then a few years later he returned to the secular world. He has published more than 120 volumes of poems, essays, and fiction and has been nominated for a Nobel Prize several times.

*SSN, or Soen Sunim, is the Korean equivalent in Buddhism of Master or Venerable.
http://www.rightviewonline.org/RVO_Pages/Pages_Poetry/KoUn.pdf