Rick Fields who wrote the poem “The Very Short Sutra On The Meeting Of The Buddha And The Goddess” is a leader in the history of Buddhism in America. Fields was raised as an atheist in Queens New York, he attended Harvard until expelled because of a very promiscuous meeting with a Rad-Cliff college student. He than became aquatinted with the famous poets Allen Gisnberg, and Gary Synder. After, he moved to California where he became indulged in Tibetan Buddhism. On June 6, 1999, Frederick Douglas Fields died from lung cancer in his FairFax home in California surrounded by family. Before and after his death he had become an commentator of Buddhism for all American people. The poem “The Very Short Sutra On The Meeting Of The Buddha And The Goddess” …show more content…
As they talk they exchange spirit, mind and body and become each other and one. In the poem I will delve into the symbolism of the Buddha and the goddess becoming each other and one, the imagery used and the message of the sutra at the end of the poem. In the Buddhist religion the term Buddha can mean anyone who has achieved full awakening, which means anyone who is free from all mental restrains and faults. In the poem Fields could be talking about ether the person who founded all branches of Buddhism, Gautama Buddha or any Buddhists who has reached full Buddha. I envision the person he is talking about being Gautama Buddha. It is definite that Gautama Buddha is the likely person Fields is talking about because Gautama Buddha founded the religion of Buddhism. The Goddess is Jetsun Dolma or other wise known as Tara, she is a bodhisattva. A bodhisattva is someone who has reached nirvana but stops because they have such compassion to end the suffering of all beings. Tara is often mentioned in Tibetan Buddhism, she is seen as the mother of liberation who represents the achievements in working hard. It would only makes sense that she would be the Goddess because Fields had become indulged in Tibetan Buddhism when he moved to California. The relationship of the Buddha and