Little Cosmic Gem

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              A little gem of pink and blue
              of picture perfect Hubble hue
              with shades of rose and turquoise dye
              in trinket box of sable sky

              amidst the Archer’s vast estate,
              called NGC Six Eight One Eight,
              from star to cloudy cast thereof
              is prettily aloft above.

              Because the nebula’s a mere
              half light-year overall in sphere
              stargazers as descriptive word
              upon it ‘little’ tag conferred.

              The Gem’s two layers quite distinct
              show gas and dust with brighter tinct
              on inner bubble where we spot
              in Hubble shot a tiny dot

              for stellar center at the heart,
              albeit faint, in astral art
              pasteled with paint of filtered picks
              through camera in varied mix.

              Six thousand light-years from our place
              within immensity of space
              this ornament of lovely face
              is nestled in its velvet case,

              a cosmic jewel sculpted far
              by winds exhaled from parent star
              with outer bubble brilliant too
              as speedy gusts go smashing through.

              While Little Gem is viewed on high
              our realm has jewel tones nearby,
              aurora’s dawns of morning blush
              o’er lands and seas of colors lush…

              If all of life were truly seen
              a home of treasures we would glean
              on earthly planet lazuline
              behind delusion’s shrouded screen

              each being as a precious gem
              neath dome of lapis diadem.
              Through lucid vision to behold
              what world of wonders would unfold!


              ~ Harley White



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A source of inspiration was the following…

Image and info ~ Hubble Finds a Little Gem…

Inspiration was also derived from the teachings and writings of Nichiren Daishōnin…

“As I have been saying for some time, in your situation as a lay believer, you should just single-mindedly chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo morning and evening, day and night, and observe what happens at the last moments of your life. At that time, hasten to the summit of perfect enlightenment, and look around you in all directions. The entire realm of phenomena will have changed into the Land of Tranquil Light, with the ground made of lapis lazuli, the eight paths marked off by golden ropes, the four kinds of flowers raining down from the heavens, music resounding in the air, and Buddhas and bodhisattvas all being caressed by breezes of eternity, happiness, true self, and purity. We, too, will surely be among their number. The Lotus Sutra is indeed such a splendid sutra!”

~ Nichiren Daishonin (1277)

“Reply to Matsuno”…

Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō means to devote our lives to and found them on (Nam[u]) the Utterness of the Dharma (Myōhō) [entirety of existence, enlightenment and unenlightenment] permeated by the underlying white lotus flower-like mechanism of the interdependence of cause, concomitancy and effect (Renge) in its whereabouts of the ten [psychological] realms of dharmas [which is every possible psychological wavelength] (Kyō).

The reason that we continually recite Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō…

Image explanation ~ This colorful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6,000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt