The Future Buddha

The Future Buddha

Buddhism has been waiting for the Future
Buddha for 26 centuries.
Christians have been waiting
for the “second coming” for two millennia.

Oddly they have not figured out
the future never comes.

The Buddha, the Christ, can only come in the present.
In fact I am certain there has never been a time,
during the period of humans on this planet,
when enlightened ones have not been here.

The proprietors of religions
want us to believe
enlightened ones only come
ever few thousand years.

The future Buddha
Is the man across the street
Who leads a quiet life,
Who does not go into debt for things.
He simply begins and ends each day
In the silence of internal refuge.

The future Christ is the mother
Next door who never yells at her children.
And, before and after her day,
when all are asleep,
she communes with the Infinite.

The future Avatar works at the convenience store,
And two other jobs, to put food on the table,
while going to college.
He is always patient,
even when his customers are not,
Because, he begins and ends each day
In union with the divine.

The future prophet is never unkind.
He never raises his voice to his wife
Or children, because faces Mecca
every day at noon
in submission to the One.

The future enlightened one is not
Just one divinely inspired being,
Who Moses-like, parts the seas,
Buddha-like turns into a rainbow, or
Jesus-like, walks on water.

The future Buddha is you and me
Beginning and ending each day
In communion with what we hold as sacred
And, by connecting all of the moments
of each day with a calm and still presents,
So that we walk all of our days, upon days,
In the presence of the Shining One.

The future Avatar, Buddha, Christ is now
And, we are emerging,
not in grape-like clusters,
but thinly dispersed, like wildflowers in the desert.
It is you and me bringing our craving
To rest, and becoming living
embodiments of peace, patience and compassion
In every moment.

-- Jeff Brooks --
© 2004