Rudyard Kipling’s Poem of Kamakura Buddha
One of the places I always wanted to visit since I was a child. I saw this image in Land O’Pines School library’s encyclopedia. From then I generated a strong wish to visit. And I did! One of my favorite images of Buddha.
Tsem Rinpoche
The Buddha at Kamakura
“And there is a Japanese idol at Kamakura”
by Rudyard KiplingO ye who tread the Narrow Way
By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,
Be gentle when the ‘heathen’ pray
To Buddha at Kamakura!To him the Way, the Law, apart,
Whom Maya held beneath her heart,
Ananda’s Lord, the Bodhisat,
The Buddha of Kamakura.For though he neither burns nor sees,
Nor hears ye thank your Deities,
Ye have not sinned with such as these,
His children at Kamakura.Yet spare us still the Western joke
When joss-sticks turn to scented smoke
The little sins of little folk
That worship at Kamakura.The grey-robed, gay-sashed butterflies
That flit beneath the Master’s eyes.
He is beyond the Mysteries
But loves them at Kamakura.And whoso will, from Pride released,
Contemning neither creed nor priest,
May feel the Soul of all the East
About him at Kamakura.Yea, every tale Ananda heard,
Of birth as fish or beast or bird,
While yet in lives the Master stirred,
The warm wind brings Kamakura.Till drowsy eyelids seem to see
A-flower ‘neath her golden htee
The Shwe-Dagon flare easterly
From Burmah to Kamakura,And down the loaded air there comes
The thunder of Thibetan drums,
And droned — “Om mane padme hums” —
A world’s-width from Kamakura.Yet Brahmans rule Benares still,
Buddh-Gaya’s ruins pit the hill,
And beef-fed zealots threaten ill
To Buddha and Kamakura.A tourist-show, a legend told,
A rusting bulk of bronze and gold,
So much, and scarce so much, ye hold
The meaning of Kamakura?But when the morning prayer is prayed,
Think, ere ye pass to strife and trade,
Is God in human image made
No nearer than Kamakura?– Rudyard Kipling
Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:
If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team
What a nice, sweet and short poem.😍Rudyard Kipling was a famous English poet and novelist.He set off on an adventurous honeymoon that took to Japan on 20 April 1892 thats where he wrote these beautiful poem of Kamkura Buddha. Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for sharing this beautiful and short write up!👍🙏😘
Rudyard Kipling was a famous English poet and novelist.He set off on an adventurous honeymoon that took to Japan on 20 April 1892 thats where he wrote these beautiful poem of Kamkura Buddha.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing .
What a nice poem. I was curious about Kipling’s interest in Buddhism and found this reference:
Kipling understood Buddhist philosophy, had evidently taken the time and trouble to read extensively on it, and was proud of his own countrymen’s re-discovery of Buddhism. “For the first time he heard of the labours of European scholars, who by the help of these and a hundred other documents have identified the Holy Places of Buddhism.” http://www.newenglishreview.org/Ibn_Warraq/Rudyard_Kipling,_India_and_Edward_Said/
Also, here is some background to this poem, which i extracted from http://cowpattyhammer.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/kim-kipling-kamakura/:
Each of the first three chapters of Kim (1901-2) is introduced by a stanza from Kipling’s poem, “The Buddha at Kamakura,” which he wrote after a visit to Japan in 1892. It’s by no means his best poem, but it’s certainly one of the most detailed and challenging ones he ever wrote on the subject of East and West from a religious point of view. Needless to say, the poem must have interested Kipling a lot for him to have selected stanzas from it for such a crucial introduction.
And they’re not easy ones either, so Kipling must have wanted readers to spend some time figuring out what they meant. Most importantly, they’re not about exotic adventure in India, or even about India, for that matter, but rather move toward the quieter, deeper, more universal themes in Kim, many of which would be new to readers even today.
Kamakura is the 44 foot high, 800 year old bronze Amitaba Buddha near Tokyo so much loved by the people of Japan — ‘Amitaba’ is the Japanese Buddha of love, a ‘Savior Buddha,’ really, and closely related in his origins to the female goddess Kwan Im in China. Kipling makes sure the reader knows it is precisely this Buddha and this place he is referring to by introducing Chapter I with the phrase, “And there is a Japanese idol at Kamakura“– and of course the word “idol” was intended to provoke a negative response. The verses, on the other hand, succeed in doing just the opposite — which, I would argue, is precisely why they are there.…………………………………
…………………………………………..Kim, Chapter I:
………………………………….O ye who tread the Narrow Way
………………………………….By Tophet -flare to Judgment Day,
………………………………….Be gentle when the ‘heathen’ pray
………………………………….To Buddha at Kamakura!
………………………………………….Kim, Chapter II:
………………………………….And whoso will, from Pride released,
………………………………….Contemning neither creed nor priest,
………………………………….May feel the Soul of all the East
………………………………….About him at Kamakura.
………………………………………….Kim, Chapter III:
………………………………….Yea, voice of every Soul that clung
………………………………….To life that strove from rung to rung
………………………………….When Devadatta’s rule was young,
………………………………….The warm wind brings Kamakura.
The first stanza tries to soften Christian distaste for other religions by appealing to the warm atmosphere at Kamakura. Both “Tophet-flare” and “Judgement Day” are harsh Biblical allusions that contrast strongly with the gentle peace embodied in the place, Kamakura, and of course in the last line of every stanza in the poem. Chapter Two’s stanza, on the other hand, praises Western, non-orthodox free-thinkers who take pride in their open-mindedness to “other creeds” (this is the age of “Spritualism,” don’t forget, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, and there were big personalities involved in those movements too, needless to say). The appeal to these two, diametrically opposed groups of people at the beginning of the novel shows the degree to which Kipling’s own heart was engaged in quite a different spriritual dimension in Kim.
The third introductory stanza is much more ambiguous. Devadatta was a very close disciple of the Buddha who actually rejected the Master’s “Middle Way,” preferring to stay behind in the old elitist spiritual life as an ascetic in the forest. Devadatta did not join the Buddha in his later, more gentle, holistic phase, and there is even a legend that he tried to kill the Buddha to prevent him from attaining Enlightenment. The stanza seems to suggest that whoever such people are, they are conservative and therefore unwilling, or not yet ready, in any case, to move on. They belong to an earlier world order.
In fact, Kipling did not include this 3rd stanza in the full version of “The Buddha at Kamakura,” which he first published in 1892 in an article in the Times called “The Edge of the East,” an article specifically about Japan. The poem as a whole was eventually added to the collection called The Five Nations in 1903, two years after the publication of Kim. In that version he included the following, much easier, more straightforward stanza, part of which is also quoted in the body of the first chapter of Kim, so we’re in the same place:
…………………………………Yea, every tale Ananda heard,
…………………………………Of birth as fish or beast or bird,
…………………………………While yet in lives the Master stirred,
…………………………………The warm wind brings Kamakura.
Ananda was the closest friend of the Buddha, if one would dare to say that about the Buddha, implying as it does some attachment on his part as well. In any case, this stanza would seem to celebrate the supportive presence of the Buddha in the pre-conscious mind, so to speak, i.e. in those beings who have not yet had the chance to experience life as a fully conscious human being.
This is mainly just a hunch, but my feeling is that Kipling was addressing in both these last two stanzas the vast majority of Westerners, busy people too set in their ways to understand Eastern spiritual practices in their hearts. He seems to be saying that with a little help they could still come to respect and even be inspired by devotion like that shown to Amitaba Buddha at Kamakura, which has certainly proven to be true in our times.
The overall message in the introductory stanzas is one of love and respect for all people who worship out of the heart, whatever their creed or the form of their worship. It is indeed a blessing to find yourself among such devoted people, the poem says, so “be gentle” and respect them. “Feel the Soul of all the East ,” open yourselves up to “the warm wind of Kamakura.”
An extraordinary message for 1892, or anytime!
Christopher Woodman
I cannot quite grasp the scynchronicity that led me to your excellent site at this moment; but I certainly appreciate it, as much as I do your generous spirit. I have been to Kamakura, but this was before I became a Buddhist. How I wish I could revisit that serence site now! Bless all of you here.
Like Rinpoche, I grew up in great awe whenever I see an image of this great Daibutsu of Kamakura. It is simply breath taking whenever I see its sublime countenance. I remembered my mum telling me that when I was conceived, my grandmother had told my mum to invite a Buddha statue back home to help protect the conceived baby (me) and the small stone replica of the sacred Buddha of Infinite Light has then been the main object of worship in my home until today.
I am grateful for the people in the past to have made so much efforts to spread Buddhism through big monuments of Buddha statues which inspire people up till today! May the Amida Daibutsu bless Rinpoche and everyone with long life and great health until we reach Enlightenment!
Terima Kasih Rinpoche!
The lovely Daibutsu of Kamakura. It is the Japanese version of Amitabha Buddha seated in ‘buddhasmrti’ or ‘Buddha remembrance’ meditative poise.
“If you can dream – and not make dreams your master”
Indeed, how lovely that would be…as I recall how I used to chase after money and the career ladder…both enslaving me or rather I allowed both to enslave me….
Back then, when I first listened to Rinpoche’s teaching on full Dharma work, I thought that was for lunatics or losers but secretly in my heart, I have always wanted to…
Education..career…money…house..car…marriage…kids
Dreams of many, yet so few can transcend this without turning it into a nightmare…
I think this is also included in part of “Kim”, the story about orphaned son of an Irish soldier who happened to befriend an aged Tibetan Lama， became his disciple and accompanied him on his journey.
How interesting, reminds me of David & Jamie’s books of such journey: “There’s No Way But Up” & “Call me Paris” from Kechara Media & Publications 😀 Now, who of the two will be the next Kipling? Hehe…
cont.~
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: `Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!
IF
Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head,
When all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat these two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
Beautiful! I love kipling’s poetry.