Themes :
Moon

The blissful state reveals itself as a shining light, as a luminescence permeating the still field of the mind. There is a sense of light from an undefined "above," silence, a fullness of vitality, and deep rest.

In sacred poetry, particularly in Zen poetry, this is often expressed as the full moon in the night sky.

The moon is the individual consciousness that shines only by reflecting the constant light of the sun, which is unbounded awareness. Individual consciousness, like the moon, waxes and wanes, sometimes bright and clear, sometimes dark.

When the moon, consciousness, is full, it is round, whole, complete, perfectly reflecting the light of divine awareness. The full moon is enlightenment. It is Buddha-mind. It is the soft light that illumines the land below when all is at rest.

In yogic poetry, the crescent moon is often associated with the brow chakra or opened "third eye" of spiritual vision. This is why some poetry and Hindu iconography depict gods and saints with a moon on the forehead.

Some Taoist and Buddhist poetry speaks enigmatically of the sun shining within the moon. These poems are referring to the state of full enlightenment when pure awareness (the sun) shines unhindered through the enlightened individual consciousness (the moon).

The full moon reminds us of the ultimate in awareness and spiritual presence. The new moon, in its darkness, can represent the "death" of complete egolessness or encountering the unknowable nature of the Mystery...

Poems with the theme of Moon

  Beannacht / Blessing
  For Light
  Abhishiktananda, Swami (Le Saux, Henri) Arunachala is a symbol
  Andal The full moon day of Margazhi is here (from Tiruppavai)
  Ayaz Faith knows You
  Basho, Matsuo From moon wreathed
  Battacharya, Mahendranath Tell me, what are you doing now, Mind
  Beni Raga Ramkali
  Blake, William Auguries of Innocence
  Buson winter moon
  Carpenter, Edward The sun, the moon and the stars
  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Kubla Khan
  cummings, e. e. i carry your heart with me
  cummings, e. e. the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
  Dogen, Eihei midnight -- no waves, no wind
  Dogen, Eihei Zazen
  Fox, John The Poem Waits at Its Own Core
  Francis of Assisi The Canticle of Brother Sun
  Francis of Assisi The Canticle of Brother Sun
  Granger, Ivan M. Goodnight Moon
  Granger, Ivan M. There Is No Letting Go
  Granger, Ivan M. Adi Atman 9: you you
  Gyatso, Kelsang Little Tiger
  ha Nagid, Samuel Gazing Through the Night
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) Covers Her Face with Both Hands
  Hakuin Hakuin's Song of Zazen
  Hakuin Past, present, future: unattainable
  Hakuin The Form of the Formless (from Hakuin's Song of Zazen)
  Hakuin The monkey is reaching
  Han-shan (Cold Mountain) Above Cold Mountain the moon shines alone
  Han-shan (Cold Mountain) Beyond Silence
  Han-shan (Cold Mountain) My heart is like the autumn moon
  Han-shan (Cold Mountain) Sitting alone in peace before these cliffs
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Contemplation
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Full Moon Festival
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Looking for Each Other
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Padmapani
  Hao-jan, Meng A Night on the River
  Hao-jan, Meng Climbing Long-View Mountain's Highest Peak
  Hayati, Bibi How can I see the splendor of the moon
  Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku Roll the Dharma thunder (from The Song of Enlightenment)
  Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku [10] The rays shining from this perfect Mani-jewel (from The Shodoka)
  Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku [26] The moon shines on the river (from The Shodoka)
  Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku [36] One moon is reflected in many waters (from The Shodoka)
  Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku [63] However the burning iron ring revolves around my head (from The Shodoka)
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar From his light (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar In memory of the beloved (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))
  Ikkyu (Sojun, Ikkyu) A Fisherman
  Iqbal, Allama Muhammad O Cup-bearer! Give me again that wine of love for Thee (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
  Iqbal, Allama Muhammad Selfhood can demolish the magic of this world (from Baal-i-Jibreel)
  Islam, Nazrul Come silently like the Moon
  Islam, Nazrul Song of Dawn
  Jacobsen, Rolf Moon and Apple
  Jakushitsu A Visit to Hattoji Temple
  Jakushitsu Living in the Mountains
  Jakushitsu Rain in Autumn
  Jayadeva You rest on the circle of Sri's breast (from The Gitagovinda)
  Jimenez, Juan Ramon Full Moon
  Kabir The light of the sun, the moon, and the stars shines bright
  Kabir The moon shines in my body
  Kalidasa Eight forms has Shiva, lord of all and king
  Kamalakanta Ever-blissful Kali
  Kamalakanta O Kali, my Mother full of Bliss!
  Kerouac, Jack The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
  Khayyam, Omar [59] Listen again
  Khayyam, Omar [74] Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane
  Ko Un Two beggars
  Krishnamurti, Jiddu Ah, Come Sit Beside Me
  Krishnamurti, Jiddu I have been a wanderer long (from The Search)
  Krishnamurti, Jiddu Song of the Beloved (from The Immortal Friend)
  Lalan As the man and the woman in me
  Lalan Could I ever forget him
  Lalan The moon is encircled by moons
  Lalla Day will be erased in night
  Lalla I hacked my way through six forests
  Latif Bhitai, Shah Abdul If you are seeking Allah
  Levertov, Denise Scraps of moon
  Li Bai Alone and Drinking Under the Moon
  Li Bai Along the Stream
  Li Bai Autumn River Song
  Li Bai In the Quiet Night
  Li Bai Quiet Thoughts, Late
  Li Bai Self-Abandonment
  Lowitz, Leza Waiting
  Lu Tung Pin When the moon is high I'll take my cane for a walk
  Machado, Antonio Songs
  Maghribi, Muhammad Shirin The Moon of Your Love
  Maharshi, Ramana The Marital Garland of Letters
  Masahide Masahide's Death Poem
  McCombs, Chris Come Have a Drink
  Merton, Thomas A Psalm
  Milarepa Upon this earth, the land of the Victorious Ones
  Milosz, Czeslaw A Song on the End of the World
  Mistral, Gabriela I Am Not Alone
  Niffari (an-Niffari, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan) The Standing "My Time Has Come"
  Nukata Let's Get to Rowing
  O'Brian, Ellen Grace Anahata
  O'Brian, Ellen Grace Maya
  Pattinattar The eightfold Yoga
  Plunkett, Joseph Mary The Splendour of God
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Conquer Death with the drumbeat Ma! Ma! Ma!
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Who is that Syama woman
  Ramsay, Jay At Fintry House
  Reninger, Elizabeth Vision
  Rosenstock, Gabriel I create silences
  Rosenstock, Gabriel inch by inch
  Rosenstock, Gabriel sickle moon
  Rosenstock, Gabriel the grace showered on me
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (2) From each and every pore (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (8) Barefoot (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (11) Your nakedness (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin Suddenly, in the sky at dawn, a moon appeared
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin That moon which the sky never saw
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin The glow of the light of daybreak is in your emerald vault, the goblet of the blood of twilight is your blood-measuring bowl
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin There is some kiss we want
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin A World with No Boundaries (Ghazal 363)
  Ryokan Reply to a Friend
  Ryokan The Autumn Moon
  Ryokan The thief left it behind
  Ryokan You stop to point at the moon in the sky
  Sanai, Hakim Meditation
  Sanai, Hakim Naked in the Bee-House
  Santoka (Taneda, Santoka) Alone, I watch the moon
  Sarmad Companion
  Sarton, May Bliss
  Saure, Gunter brilliant moons
  Shankara In Praise of the Goddess
  Shih-te (Pickup) Behold the glow of the moon
  Shikibu, Izumi Although the wind
  Shikibu, Izumi Watching the moon
  Shiwu (Stonehouse) It's something no on can force
  Shiwu (Stonehouse) Paper windows bamboo walls hedge of hibiscus
  Shiwu (Stonehouse) Trying to become a Buddha is easy
  Singh, Darshan At dusk, at dawn I gaze upon your beauty
  Singh, Darshan In what state was I
  Snyder, Gary Once Only
  Soseki, Muso Hui-neng's Pond
  Soseki, Muso Old Creek
  Surdas Krishna Awakes
  Tagore, Rabindranath He's there among the scented trees (from The Lover of God)
  Tagore, Rabindranath Listen, can you hear it? (from The Lover of God)
  Tagore, Rabindranath Your flute plays the exact notes of my pain. (from The Lover of God)
  Teasdale, Sara Oh You Are Coming
  Teasdale, Sara The Fountain
  Teasdale, Sara Two Songs for Solitude
  Tolkien, J. R. R. Eärendil the Mariner
  Tolkien, J. R. R. The Song of Beren and Lúthien
  Tolkien, J. R. R. Upon the hearth the fire is red
  Trungpa, Chogyam A flower is always happy
  Trungpa, Chogyam A Heart Lost and Discovered
  Tu Fu Visiting the Monastery at Lung-men
  Tukaram Thou art more kind than mother dear
  Tulsi Sahib Glimpse of the Invisible
  Tulsi Sahib The Rainy Season
  Tung-Shan (Tozan) Verses on the Five Ranks
  Vidyapati The moon has shone upon me
  Walcott, Derek Earth
  Wei, Wang Bamboo Cottage
  Wei, Wang Drifting on the Lake
  Wei, Wang Living in the Mountain on an Autumn Night
  Wu Men Hui-k'ai Moon and clouds are the same
  Wu Men Hui-k'ai Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn
  Yeats, William Butler The Dawn
  Yun-k'an Tzu by willow's shade
  Yun-k'an Tzu no tricks
  Yun, Hsu Feelings on Remembering the Day I first Produced the Mind
  Yun, Hsu Mirror Pond on Mount Taibo in Shanxi
Wine