Mr. Altig’s Overview of the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Sutra

Beyond the walls of what is fixed and named, 
The Bodhisattva finds the quiet path. 
No “superior” or “inferior” is proclaimed, 
No vehicle to stoke the ego’s wrath.

The ultimate truth is Ekayāna’s Single Flow, 
Where doctrines are but skillful, timely tools, 
And sectarian pride is simply seen to grow 
From clinging to the provisional, and not the rules.

The Vihāra is not outward quietude alone, 
But wisdom’s deep, epistemological light.
The categories that the grasping mind has sown— 
Like “real and unreal”—dissolve in endless sight.

For Śūnyatā reveals all things lack core, 
No essence to be clung to or dismissed.
Samsāra and Nirvāṇa meet upon the shore; 
The conditioned world is where the path is kissed.

“Not man,” “not woman”—these are empty forms.
Anātman sees no fixed, inherent worth.
The illusion of the self that rages in the storms 
Is seen as but an aggregation from the earth.

Dependent Origination shows the ceaseless chain, 
Where feeling flares before the thirst begins.
The peaceful conduct breaks the link of pain, 
Where non-reaction frees the mind from sins.

The sage does not obtain, nor know, nor see,
In grasping ways that build a world of “mine.” 
Non-clinging sets the troubled spirit free, 
An Equanimity that makes the heart divine.

The impulse to dominate is overthrown, 
Replaced by curiosity and tender care.
The Dharma is taught, the seed of wisdom sown, 
Without desire for outcome, or despair.

To dwell in peace is to embrace the whole, 
To operate with purity in the causal stream.
Non-judgment is the purpose, and the soul 
Of Padmaprabha’s compassionate, unfolding dream.