Chanting Cicada Monks
I hear the cicada monks chanting their
nightly prayers with their sacred tymbals.
I wonder if with all that vigorous chanting,
any of them have attained enlightenment.
Some people think the chants are for sex,
but the cicadas are far higher evolved
than chanting for hours merely for procreation.
Sometimes they copulate out of nature’s
necessity to propagate their species.
Most of the time they are on a higher path
tirelessly chanting their sutras over and over,
experiencing profound moments of cosmic bliss,
striving toward getting off the wheel of rebirth,
and transcending into the higher, eternal bliss,
instead of merely singing noisily in towering trees.
Bob Boyd