Sangha Sharing

From the Heart

This offering by Jacob Kelly in Colorado was inspired by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, his beloved root lama, and the teachings Rinpoche gave while on retreat in Boulder, Colorado, in fall 2019. We invite YOU to share a poem of yours that has arisen through your connection to Bön. Just send it to our This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Wisdom Tree

Before me stands a tree, with leaves – so many they are uncountable – yet, each one, though I do not see them all individually, is invaluable, for they collectively, in part, breathe out the oxygen that I breathe in, in order to survive, and more than that – to enjoy life. 

This tree has many branches, so many – I do not know how many – that reach out and up to become one with the air around it and the heavens above. 

This tree has roots deep within the earth and all the elements of nature, known and unknown – though, I speak of the kind of knowing, here, the likes of which are held in pages of written records. For the true knowledge is known. It is experienced by the birds and insects, and through the sap and the dirt and the tree herself. It is known through the winds that dance through her branches, and the joyful rains that wet her bark and leaves.

Before me stands a tree that, though it contains a vast, deep wisdom that can be expounded upon for volumes and ages, its true wisdom is contained within its connection with the heavens and the earth and its simple being, and the beings around it. It is a tree, it does not try to be other than that, for it would fail. 

Many birds, insects and squirrels have sought refuge in this tree, and indeed what they found was a harmonious coexistence in which they, each to the other, could be their own, natural selves.

They have found a home.

Before me stands a tree. But it is not just a tree, it is a glorious manifestation of all wisdom in the universe, and I am in awe to be witness to its presence. For, not only is it beyond words to see that this kind of intelligence and beauty exists in nature, but it reflects my own, simple, elegant, amazing, natural being-ness and presence. And that really is something.

Jacob Kelly