Shining
light/ in the water, on
the road, the village people
decorate their turquoise
pink
chartreuse
& purple
houses
w.
flowers
it's all about
'Pedro Gonzales'
for
them.
*
Naked
body
white
on
white
WAVE
*
So. America –stars/ rain
& amazing baths w. Norbu Rimpoche/ Sometimes the birds
were practicing w. us/ when they weren't, the
sheep were/ at night the cows were
walking across the
road — the
mosquitoes
never bothered me/ I was sometimes
afraid of the guns the military
carry or the police,
but
I
basically set up
my regular life style.
*
Unusual
earthquakes, that are not
earthquakes,
disease, famine & plague
which are not
these/
these/ times, the end
of the Kalpa, of the calendar,
the end of/ the dream
of
man
*
White
butterfly, this morning
a black crow/ when
I see these solitary birds
I always think
O
it's
my
mother
*
Blue, green, thru' the
tree/ a rock, in the distance
a bird.
All this while
Longchen Rolpai Dorje
takes a dip in
the
sea
*
from a letter
My
parents have left the
Earth – but I know they are also here, not
only inside. They were ignorant & beautiful. I miss their
color & style, especially
when I don't have you
around to be:
Petulant
Sexy Confused Blissed out
on occasion, Angry, & so forth.
That's all I have to say.
The birds are talking — 2 dogs wanted to befriend me
this morning, but I resisted when their
demands were overwhelming.
*
A fatigue so deep, I can't see or sing
*
Today
the Man was
saying he didn't even
THINK of teaching pelicans or fish
it was he said, hard enough
to teach his own
'genera'
it
was of course
perfectly obvious
that he was not
of 'our'
genera,
Still
he made us laugh,
float, contemplate the sun
& many other
unusual
things.
*
Every time
I see the 'cocks' in Venezuela
I think of Hokusai
in Japan,
Is that 'Normal'? 'Abnormal'?
I think of his paintings of them, I see his paintings.
NN
said to me
Why try to be like other people?
yes, why even try?
*
The
'crazy wisdom'
of
love,
all the
angular dimensions/ &
the clear breeze
at
dawn,
the
beautiful lady
who lives w. a wolf
&
the bandits
who came to rob
the empty
room,
things
change so quickly/ I
was just enjoying the color scheme
when the woman who owed
the place
ruined
Everything
*
Scintillating
lights./ the heavy
passions
of: the Taxi drivers
in
Juan
Griego/
Suddenly
I'm an:
American.
'Our' Coup d'état has back fired.
Once
again,
we're on the side
of the Bad Guys but
D.
has send me an
e
mail
which is very tender. tender
&
unexpected.
Mi Togpa: Not
conditioned
by
thoughts.
*
It
wld. be difficult
in
AMERIKA DEL SUR
but
we might
make love
in
NYC
then, it shld. be
Real
LOVE, if we knew
what it was/ I'm sorry
he's not here: to
enjoy the
marvelous teaching
&
to hang
out
again.
In Caracas (1999) NN said we didn't even know what love was
*
For
a week I dress in
white, every day wash
clothes at the BAR– the beautiful
lady fr. Mexico is a Shaman — running
naked she looked like a
girl (or bird)
Naked Guru–So linked to
him in this birth,
why?
*
A
thought abt.
Michaux– How he
used the Poetic Passion
to empty his MIND. He used
Everything he did to this end–
like a DC pa, going
beyond
limits.
*
fr. a letter...
Slept
in adobe hut/ really an
elegant villa, at least according
to the standards here, I felt somewhat
out of place but
ENJOYED
sleeping
(even) alone
in
a
hammock.
*
By the sea/
Master in the waves
Nothing has any
sense,
at
all,
still
very sad abt. D.
my parents — not
possible to
relate
to
Rimpoche—
He's
here to realize
Rainbow Body — not
to comfort
students.
*
I dance Song of Vajra & sleep beneath stars but
only feel agitation inside
*
My
only 'happiness'
at this retreat is
a cup of green tea at
the sea
in
the
morning
*
"In general
we have passions
&
we experience sensations
thru the five senses.
This shld. not distract or condition us.
If we are not conditioned
by them their vibrations or functions remain
&
the five passions are called wisdoms.
In Lhundrub
instead of visualizing, we integrate movement
w.the state of contemplation
so movement acquires an immense value.
If you manage
to relax completely, w/o having any more problems
w. the thoughts that arise
&
if they become like waves
appearing & disappearing
in their own condition.
Lhagtong
is equivalent to the recognition
that movement is part of our energy."
This passage is from The Four Contemplations of the Semde by Namkhai Norbu, translated by the poet.
*
The
moon disappears
behind clouds at
dawn on the
Island
of
Margarita
Saddened
the 3 cows, the
docile cows guard
the road & depart as I
appear,
Here
it's all pigs, cocks,
cows, & in the sea, Pelicans—
& yellow birds–Are these
the master's future
disciple
or
the
previous
ones?
*
It's 9 am
the practitioners are submerged
they look like gopis
out
there
*
Am
I in the water
because I'm writing
abt.
it?
*
All
the time, the bliss
state, radiating. Is it the sun or the Master?
spreading all this
warmth?
"A light in the time of Darkness"
he
announced.
*
The
old quiet dog,
the sick one, the mad walker,
my brother,
all pass
all passes, this
single
Day.
*
The
Island
of
Margarita
is
today
mourning,
Earth Air Water & Fire
all feel,
the
Master
w. the large Belly &
hidden power
is
gone.
*
Left
alone the Birds
sing
& fill my thoughts,
annihilate
my
'thoughts'
old Sea. Dense Air,
above my gaze, floating
float into space
blue white
as
if I am falling
into
BLUE, space is
moving
upward. You can not
say I am less
deceptive
or
that
I AM
"I am that I am" UNDONE
The chords. I am floating/ yr.
ignorance is mine. No
anger was
appeased.
I forgot I had a body when
the clear blue sky
was a Movie
I was
watching.
fr. Mid–Air or Mid–Stream
or?
*
Divino
was the perfect
re–entry pt. diamond in
ears, braided hair
at first, I thought he was
a groovy
black
girl:
chubby & kind.
(Wheeling me around, he started talking abt. 'his' girlfriend
she was an 'older woman'/ that itself
was
comforting
Amerika/ N. Amerika
seems so
PLASTIC. I hate
the industrial noises — after
the wind, birds & fire.
*
I
wonder how these
airplanes fly & why
I get sick
in
them...?
I
can't stand
these PROGRAMMED
voices/ as if a human
voice was not a
Natural
Instrument.
for
attuning
... body
speech
mind.
*
So
far
you didn't 'fuck me'... I've been
in this filthy city for
5 days & you
more or less
ignore
me.
*
"It's all about fucking"
says Philip.
Marie de France, whose work
in Latin, influenced, even Dante Aligheri,
Wow. Was she
"Bele amie, si es de mus
Ne vus sanz mei ne mei sanz vus"
ROMANTIC.
*
I
admire the
non-dual women,
of
the 8-12TH centuries
Tho, according to street astrologer – in Soho
I am not supposed to LIVE like
women of
1000 yrs. ago
I wld. like to attain
what they
DID.
*
Altho
O. & I did
not make love or because
we didn't I awoke
in a state
of
BLISS
*
Especially
charming the Swiss
lady who lived in
Corte Real
w.
1 black raven,
1 black horse, 1 black wolf & 1 black snake
The
villagers thought she was strange/ then
she got married & was socially
acceptable. tho of course
RARE,
The
villagers gave her
the black horse, the black raven, the black snake & the black wolf
then thought she was
strange because
she had them.
*
The
'guru' fever
has
hit...I'm a
nice
girl
again
I don't have
to write
anymore
poems. I
came back to the
primordial
SOUND
of
the
greater
Tide & Sea.
*
addenda
THE
CRAZY WISDOM Colors
at the sea in Sagaroza — the great
conversation abt. the royal
family of Monaco
w.
a native fr. the place.
after days of austere teachings—I cld.
not describe the sunset
even
if
I
tried...
O bandit boy who knew the stories of Margarita
& the clouds purple & a very soft pink.
*
JOSE....LA JOSELIN
(nb. Jose's poem/ Casa Veija. Pedro Gonzales)
*
fr. a journal
It's a holiday in Venezuela/ yesterday the military killed
according to the 'media' 11 people, according to someone who
works in a hospital at least 30 people died there
participating in a pacifist
demonstration
but
for the people of the island,
it's the festival of Pedro Gonzales & there's a
high energy in the air—
paper flowers/ on doors, fences, trees...shrines, everywhere.
I took a thousand photos/ post cards of the place...
no one will ever see
my body feels
very alive.
It was so beautiful to swim
far out to sea w. Rimpoche... I felt all silk & vibrant,
then the simple people here,
somehow made me very
'high'.
The
teachings are very beautiful, this time—
I needed them. If only I cld. communicate to D., the
dynamic aspect of Samatabadra/Samatabadri, or help him break out of his passivity. Nothing like that can be forced, of course & also he has to want it/ I guess I have to be very loving
to myself, recovering fr.
my mothers death (my father's earth)
In
this bliss w. Rimpche,
I feel I can see them by establishing my state
*
"This time once you have written down the entire text
of
The Main Point of View Beyond the Conceptual Mind
properly it is important that you teach it on
Margarita Island
to your devoted students before any other Longsal Teachings."
How are the conditions for the spreading
of the teachings of Samatabadra
on Margarita Island?
"Totally perfect" she replied.*
Notes:
- Norbu Rimpoche: Choegyal Namkhai Norbu Rimpoche, Dzog Chen or ATI Yoga Master, also a terton, capabe of receiving & transmitting entire teachings received through 'dream' (see Big Bridge on the Yellow Scroll). Dzog Chen, the Great Perfection, the highest of the 8 vehicles of the Dharma, the direct path.
- Margarita Island: In the Caribbean, between Miami & Caracas.
- Pedro Gonzales: The patron saint (14th Century) of the town Pedro Gonzales, on Isla Margarita, and the name of the town itself.
- Unusual Earthquakes: Reference to earthquake recorded beneath Manhattan Island shortly after 9/ll, considered by some to have been a 'bomb' beneath the city.
- Unusual Famines: Those produced by mismanagement of food & monastery funds for the impoverished.
- Mi Togpa: "Beyond Thought." From the Longde Series of Dzog Chen.
- Gopi: From Sanskrit, Cowherd devotees of Lord Krishna. The reference is to those who followed him into the River Yamuna as he bathed.
- "A Light in the Time of Darkness": A quote from the oral transmission of the master concerning an epithet for himself he had found in a rediscovered text.
- "Ne vus sanz moi": From the Lais of Marie de France, considered the first writer in Old French. The quote is from Chevrefoi recounting a fragment from the legend of Tristam & Iseut, "...The two of them resembled the honeysuckle which clings to the hazel branch when it has wound round & attached itself to the haze. The two can survive together but if anyone should then attempt to separate them, the hazel easily dies as does the honeysuckle. Sweet love so it is with us, without me you can not survive, not I without you."
- Non-Dual Women: A reference to the Tantric yoginis of the Pali Dynasty in northeast India, Practitioners of Secret Yogic practices, some of whom were excellent poets, see Miranda Shaw's Passionate Enlightenment, Princeton University Press, 1994.
- Merigar: Mountain of Fire, a center for teaching & practice of Dzog Chen; in particular, in Tuscany, northwest Italy. Namkhai Norbu founded this center in 1982.
- Rainbow Body: Certain Masters at death leave no trace of their mortal life, but dissolve the elements of which they are constituted into each other, leaving only hair & nails as traces of their existence.
- "This time once you have written down the entire text... 'Totally perfect' she replied." This passage is a conversation between Namkhai Norbu Rimpoche and the Dakini, recorded in Longsal Teachings, translated by A. Clemente, published by the Shang Shung Institute.
- The Longsal Cycle: For the Dakinis, the Innermost Essence of the Luminous Clairty of the Universe. A collection of rediscovered terma teachings.
Louise Landes Levi is a poet, translator and musician. Her works include translations of Rene Daumal's RASA Essays on Indian Aesthetics, Sweet on My Lips: the Love Poems of Mirabai; and her own poetry books: Guru Punk, Avenue A and Ninth Street, and Don't Fuck with The Airlines. Photograph by Ira Cohen.
The author thanks, above all, Longchen Rolpai Dorje for the extraordinary teachings he gave on Margarita Island, for his permission to receive these teachings, and for the dream she received as invitation to them.