Full Moon

I pull the window curtain and prepare to go to bed. It is a serene night outside. The ivory moon sheds glittering rays over the lake. The full moon is magnificent! Indeed, tonight is the fifteenth of the first lunar calendar month. Suddenly, I realize that this moon is so familiar, I must have seen it before.

I linger by the window contemplating where I have seen a similar moon. Ah! I remember now: it is in one of the paintings by Don, author of the illustrations of the book But Buddha Clearly Shows The Way. The painting depicted the scene of Prince Siddharta sitting on a boulder, with a hand holding his sword and another hand his long locks.

The moon I am looking at tonight is not gloriously shining but secluded and solemn. And the moon in the painting was also secluded and solemn, solemn as if it was witnessing the Prince’s determination to break free from his trapping worldly life.

Twenty-five centuries ago, the very same moon that I am gazing at has shone the way for Prince Siddharta to creep out of the palatial compound, travel miles and miles, and come to rest by this boulder. His beloved horse Kanthaka, his trusted attendant Chana, his sword, his short jacket and slippers, even the Prince’s own body has disintegrated and ceased to exist. Only the moon is the same one, the moon and the Way to liberation that he showed us continue to exist.

Twenty-five centuries have passed, more than thirty thousand full-moon nights. There have been millions of sentient beings in this samsara who followed his Way and attained liberation. The moon tonight will continue to witness millions of sentient beings who are on their way to liberation; I pledge to be one of them.

I am deeply moved and enthused; I am grateful that Prince Siddharta resolved to cut his locks on that full-moon night, I am grateful that Sakyamuni Buddha came to this world twenty-five centuries ago.

On the full-moon night of next month, I would come to this window and look at the moon of the past and the future.

Du Yen

The fifteenth night of the first lunar calendar month, Year of the Dragon 2012.

“The Rejection of Worldly Life” in watercolors by Don Le