‘The Mother of Wisdom’: Songs and Praise to the Mother on Mother’s Day!

Like a mother who protects her child, her only child, with her own life, one should cultivate a heart of unlimited love and compassion towards all living beings.-–Gautama Buddha

Today, in India is Mother’s Day, a time for all to remember the great and unrepayable kindness of mother’s everywhere. Here is a poem praising the ‘Mother’ relative and ultimate from Tales from the Yoni Stone (Dakini Publications, 2020) and two beautiful songs praising their great qualities. May we all be continually embraced and loved by the kindness and compassion of a loving mother at all times!

THE MOTHER OF WISDOM

”No thing anywhere

is ever born from itself,

from something else,

from both or without a cause.’

Nagarjuna – from ‘Root Verses on the Wisdom of the Middle Way’

For there to be a Birth-day

there must be a ‘mother’ and ‘child’

but who causes who to arise?

For something to be ‘born’

there must be a ’cause’

but when does the ‘seed’ become the ‘tree’ ?

For the ‘seed’ to ‘grow’

there must be ‘conditions’

but when do the sun,  earth and air become ‘growing’?

For something to ‘die’

there must be ‘change’

but when does the ‘change’ become the ‘death’?

For there to be ‘objects’

there must be ‘words’

but when did the ‘words’ become the ‘objects”?

All I know is,

when I watch you sleep,

even the words ‘love’ and ‘compassion’ fall away;

like countless tears from a billion mothers,

into a deep ocean of timeless peace.

Child, you are my guru

my suffering

my joy.

You gave birth to me, a mother

and for that I am eternally grateful.

Written and dedicated to my son, on his second birthday.

by Adele Tomlin, from Tales of the Yoni Stone (Dakini Publications, 2020)

In Tibetan, the word ‘yum’, the honorific for ‘mother’, is used to describe the great ‘mother’ of wisdom, prajñāpāramitā, as well as female consorts of deities. Noble Tara is also described as ‘mother’ Tara. Why is this? Because the mother of all the buddhas, is that which gives ‘birth’ and is the source of everything and there is no greater love or compassion than that a loving mother has for her only child.  Female bodies and breasts, these days, are seen by many as mainly for sexual stimulation and gratification but let us also not forget that they give life and milk to babies! Today let us remember the great love of compassion of mothers everywhere and remember that all beings seek for and wish to be cared for with that kind of love!

Another great mother poem was posted online today, Rejoice Old Mothers! by Jennifer Hawley Zechlin.

Here is a lovely Tibetan song about ‘Mothers’ called ‘Ama la’ by Tenzin Kunsel

By Celine Dion:

Two portraits taken of me by my son and his lovely mother’s day card and poem (he searched and pick one from the internet he liked)!