Outside the City of Tranquil Light

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             The Kuiper belt with frozen realms
             our eighth of planets overwhelms,
             for if Neptune had not formed
             that collection could have swarmed
             into a body neophyte,
             habitably considered quite
             outside the city of tranquil light.

             Suggestive of domains of ire
             or hellish greed beyond desire,
             those icy floating places
             evoke the haunted faces
             that feign affected smiles despite
             their fears and tears alone at night,
             outside the city of tranquil light.

             We common mortals live and die
             for trifles, never asking why,
             asleep in mind’s delusion,
             on pathways of confusion,
             while cherished hopes and dreams take flight
             although pursued with all our might,
             outside the city of tranquil light.

             None can escape the sting of strife
             during the whole of earthly life;
             storms of fortune fiercely rage
             while the mind and body age,
             albeit some achieve a height
             of recognition shining bright
             outside the city of tranquil light.

             Our only constant being flux,
             we strive yet fail to grasp the crux
             and cling to this bubble world
             adrift in dimensions curled,
             regardless of the poet’s sleight
             or savvy from the erudite,
             outside the city of tranquil light.

             As years go by in swift array
             kaleidoscopic passions play,
             till like fleeting spectral shades
             the phantasmic pageant fades.
             What history we choose to write
             ensuing epochs may indict
             outside the city of tranquil light.

             In our search for instant pleasure,
             have we lost the taste to treasure
             sheer existence, seeming rare
             in the universe out there?
             Oftentimes at the brink of blight
             sentient creatures awake in fright,
             outside the city of tranquil light.

             Happiness that will ever last
             springs from essential wisdom vast
             in the deepest inner states
             where enlightenment awaits…
             Will humankind reverse its plight,
             heed the theme of the lotus white,
             and seek the city of tranquil light?

             Oh, let us flames of faith ignite,
             Nam Myoho Renge Kyo recite,
             to find the city of tranquil light!


             ~ Harley White

            

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Article with video from Universe Today ~ What Is the Kuiper Belt?

“The Kuiper Belt is a collection of bodies outside the orbit of Neptune that, if nothing else had happened, if Neptune hadn’t formed or if things had gone a little bit better, maybe they could have gotten together themselves and formed the next planet out beyond Neptune. But instead, in the history of the solar system, when Neptune formed it led to these objects not being able to get together, so it’s just this belt of material out beyond Neptune.”

Universe Today ~ What Has the Kuiper Belt Taught Us About the Solar System?

Inspiration was derived from the following passage by Nichiren Daishōnin…

“Outside the city of Tranquil Light, everywhere is a realm of suffering. Once you leave the haven of inherent enlightenment, what is there that can bring you joy?”

~ Nichiren (1263)

Quotation from the last paragraph of the writing: “Questions and Answers on Embracing the Lotus Sutra (Dharma Flower Sutra)”

This passage has also been translated as follows: “Everywhere other than the Capital of Tranquil Light is a realm of suffering. Once you leave the haven of inherent enlightenment, what is there to bring you joy?“

“Questions and Answers on Embracing the Lotus Sutra (Dharma Flower Sutra)”

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

Solar System Kuiper Belt ~ Over 4 billion miles (6.7 billion km) from the Sun, the Kuiper Belt is a vast zone of frozen worlds we still know very little about.

(Artist’s conception of the Kuiper Belt, courtesy of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute)

Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute (JHUAPL/SwRI)