A Tribute to Ven. Bhikkhuni Kusuma

Venerable Bhikkhuni,
To you I am forever grateful,
For showing me the way 
In your gentle, inimitable way.
For many years now,
You’ve been my guiding light,
Teaching me patient endurance
Sans resentment and aversion;
Peaceful acceptance
Of the way it is
Rather than how it should be.
Realizing ‘my way’
Is not the only way.

Harmony takes precedence now,
The fight recedes;
Knowledge of causal conditions
Taming the desire to be ’special’
Seeing we’re all the same – 
Seeking happiness
In the wrong places.

And now I wake up to a day
Where busy-ness is replaced
By wise reflection,
Thanks to your indefatigable efforts
To make the Buddha Word
Intelligible to us all.
And slowly, very slowly,
We are awakening,
As a lotus opens to the sun,
To see the world around us
In a different light! 
May you attain the Noble Bliss of Nibbanna!
By Aruni Wadugodapitiya