The ground shook beneath me, I lost my balance:
Demon Mara appeared to challenge me.
He wounded me, but I wounded him back:
Blood on my trainee Manjushri light sabre.
‘I may have severed a few limbs of afflictions,
Yet, the Demon is alive, regenerating
New limbs for his next attack. I shall destroy
This Demon of Self-Cherishing: he will not live!’
Demon Mara laughed like the mockingbird,
‘You thought you could terminate her,
The Girl Who Loved Too Much,
It was only a flesh wound, you know.’
Bloody and torn, trembling she laid,
Her Manjushri light sabre beyond her reach.
She cried: ‘Lama, my Lama! Why?’
The sun fired the desert sand like gold.
Although this mind is full of afflictions,
I am not an affliction: I am a human being.
Therefore, I am not an object of abandonment.’
He said, ‘Shhhhhh, my little Dharma Girl. Empty,
Empty, all is empty, empty of inherent existence.’
Be gentle, gentle, my daughter, gentle with your afflictions, like
A mother to her two-year-old child.
By Judy Lin for Khensur Lama Lhundrup Rigsel of Kopan Monastery 2009-3.
“MBA: My Battle with Afflictions” from Dharma in Her Heart.
Photo: Google Images – artelino.eu Copyright © 2012 Judy Lin
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