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Sky

 

 

 

The sky as a natural metaphor for the mind is used in the sacred poetry of the East, especially in Buddhist traditions. When the sky is clear, still, empty, open, we can perceive the sources of heavenly light -- the sun, moon, and stars. But when the sky is clouded and turbulent, the heavens are hidden and the world below becomes dark.

In deep peace, when the mind is undisturbed by internal chatter and other tremors, perception is no longer obscured and awareness of the Divine shines through. In fact, what we call "mind" ceases to exist when it is still; it settles into a vibrant emptiness. It is as if the sky vanishes when the clouds disappear and we are left with only the experience of sunlight shining everywhere.

See also

Moon
Sun
Sun
Sun
Sun

Poems with the theme of Sky

  Abulafia, Rabbi Abraham A Holy Tabernacle in the Heart (from Life of the Future World)
  Abulafia, Rabbi Abraham Circles 1 (from Life of the Future World)
  Adyashanti Rest and Be Taken
  Akha The Essence is only as far away as the sky
  Akhmatova, Anna Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold,
  Alighieri, Dante And as a ray descending from the sky (from The Paradiso, Canto I)
  Ammons, A. R. Rapids
  Andal Fair mothers, my sweet ambrosia (from Nacciyar Tirumoli)
  Ashford, Eric Speak Yourself Open Like the Sky
  Ashford, Eric Suddenly
  Ashford, Eric The Journey
  Ashford, Eric Your Green and Living Art
  Aurobindo, Sri Tree
  Battacharya, Mahendranath Oh Ma Kali, for a long time now
  ben Kallir, Eleazar He Shall be King!
  Berry, Wendell Sabbaths 1999, VII
  Berry, Wendell What We Need Is Here
  Blake, William Auguries of Innocence
  Brabazon, Francis The Dawn-Song Of His Mouth (from Stay With God)
  Chinook (Anonymous) Teach us, and show us the Way
  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor To Nature
  cummings, e. e. i carry your heart with me
  cummings, e. e. the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
  Dadu Dayal So priceless is the birth, O brother,
  Dasimayya, Devara Whatever It was
  Dickinson, Emily [388] Take Your Heaven further on --
  Feuerstein, Georg Our Worded Universe
  Feuerstein, Georg Squaring the Circle
  Francis of Assisi Let the whole of mankind tremble
  Galib, Seyh If I say that the skies have opened
  Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Oh, happy he who still can hope in our day (from Faust)
  Granger, Ivan M. Earth and Sky
  Granger, Ivan M. Adi Atman 7: the game is up
  Gyatso, Kelsang Little Tiger
  Hafiz A New World
  Hafiz Sun Rays
  Hakuin Hakuin's Song of Zazen
  Halevi, Judah Lord, Where Shall I Find You?
  Hallaj (al-Hallaj, Mansur) If They Only Knew
  Han-shan (Cold Mountain) [203] Above Cold Mountain the moon shines alone
  Han-shan (Cold Mountain) [253] Children I implore you
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Looking for Each Other
  Hao-jan, Meng A Night on the River
  Hao-jan, Meng Climbinb Long-View Mountain's Highest Peak
  Hildegard of Bingen O nobilissima viriditas / Responsory for Virgins
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar I sought her from myself, (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar Whispering, then listening close (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
  Iqbal, Allama Muhammad To the Saqi (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
  Jayadeva [3] When spring came, tender-limbed Radha wandered (from The Gitagovinda)
  Jnanadev The Refutation of Knowledge (from Amritanubhav)
  John of the Cross Full of Hope I Climbed the Day
  John of the Cross Song of the Soul That Delights in Knowing God by Faith
  John of the Cross The Fountain
  Kabir He's that rascally kind of yogi
  Kabir [XVII] The light of the sun, the moon, and the stars shines bright:
  Kalidas (Edwards, Lawrence) A faint glow in the Eastern sky
  Kerouac, Jack The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
  Khayyam, Omar [2] Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky
  Lalan He talks to me
  Lee, Li-Young One Heart
  Lee, Li-Young Praise Them
  Leon, Luis de The Life Removed
  Mahadevi, Akka Would a circling surface vulture
  Manikkavacakar Becoming sky & earth
  Mathias, Michael (10) The Tree of Kabbalah - The Kiss (from The Cosmic Soul and the World Tree)
  McCombs, Chris Passion for the Sacred
  Merton, Thomas A Messenger from the Horizon
  Merton, Thomas The Sowing of Meanings
  Milosz, Czeslaw On Angels
  Nammalvar The earth and the far-flung sky
  Nasimi, Imadeddin At love's most sumptuous feast was I with love made drunk -
  Nasimi, Imadeddin Both worlds within my compass come, but this world cannot compass me.
  Neruda, Pablo Poetry
  Po Chu-i Staying at Bamboo Lodge
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Tell me, brother, what happens after death?
  Reninger, Elizabeth Deer
  Reninger, Elizabeth Deluge
  Reninger, Elizabeth Vision
  Rilke, Rainer Maria O Lacrimosa
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (1) what speeded them on their way? (from Uttering Her Name)
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (1) You are in me (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (3) From clear air (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rumi, Jelaluddin No end to the journey
  Rumi, Jelaluddin On Love
  Rumi, Jelaluddin Seeking the Source
  Rumi, Jelaluddin Suddenly, in the sky at dawn, a moon appeared,
  Rumi, Jelaluddin That moon which the sky never saw
  Ryokan First days of spring -- the sky
  Sarmad Every man who is aware of his secret
  Shabkar (Rangdrol, Shabkar Tsogdruk) A Song by a Yogi in Solitude
  Shabkar (Rangdrol, Shabkar Tsogdruk) Sky empty and luminous
  silent lotus Our Remains
  silent lotus The Temple Walls
  Soseki, Muso At the Nachi Kan'non Hall
  Soseki, Muso Buddha's Satori
  Soseki, Muso Clear Valley
  Soseki, Muso Toki-no-Ge (Satori Poem)
  Symeon the New Theologian In the midst of that night, in my darkness,
  Thayumanavar Prayer to Being - Let Us Contemplate
  Thompson, Francis The Hound of Heaven
  Tilopa Song of the Mahamudra (Tilopa's Song to Naropa)
  Traherne, Thomas The Rapture
  Traherne, Thomas Wonder
  Trinley, Karma A Song on the View of Voidness
  Tsvetaeva, Marina I know the truth
  Vivekananda, Swami Song of the Sanyasin
  Wei, Wang Drifting on the Lake
  Whitman, Walt [10] Alone far in the wilds and mountains I hunt, (from Song of Myself)
  Whitman, Walt [24] Walt Whitman, a cosmos, of Manhattan the son, (from Song of Myself)
  Yannai Hymn from the Heavens
  Yitzchak of Berditchov, Levi Where I wander -- You!
  Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [15] Some may slander, some may abuse; (from The Shodoka)
  Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [64] The great elephant does not loiter on the rabbit's path. (from The Shodoka)
  Yung Chia (Chueh, Hsuan) Let others slander me; (from The Song of Enlightenment)
  Yung Chia (Chueh, Hsuan) Let others slander me; (from The Song of Enlightenment)


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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
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