We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Buddha at Kamakura

from Rudyard Kipling by Toby Darling

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

poem by Rudyard Kipling

lyrics

Buddha at Kamakura
1892

"And there is a Japanese idol at Kamakura"
Fmaj7 G6 F Am7 xx3210 xx5430 xx35x5 x02010
O ye who tread the Narrow Way
F Am7 Bb Am7
By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,
Fmaj7 G6 F Am7
Be gentle when "the heathen" pray
F Am7 Bb Am7
To Buddha at Kamakura!

Dm7 Em Am
To him the Way, the Law, apart,
G F G F G
Whom Maya held beneath her heart,
Dm7 Em Am
Ananda's Lord, the Bodhisat,
F C Dm7 F G
The Buddha of Kamakura.

For though he neither burns nor sees, [as per A]
Nor hears ye thank your Deities,
Ye have not sinned with such as these,
His children at Kamakura,

Yet spare us still the Western joke [as per B]
When joss-sticks turn to scented smoke
The little sins of little folk
That worship at Kamakura --

C Am Em G
The grey-robed, gay-sashed butterflies
C Am Em G
That flit beneath the Master's eyes.
C Am Em G
He is beyond the Mysteries
C Dm7 F G
But loves them at Kamakura.

And whoso will, from Pride released, [as per A]
Contemning neither creed nor priest,
May feel the Soul of all the East
About him at Kamakura.

Yea, every tale Ananda heard, [as per B]
Of birth as fish or beast or bird,
While yet in lives the Master stirred,
The warm wind brings Kamakura.

Till drowsy eyelids seem to see [as per A]
A-flower 'neath her golden htee
The Shwe-Dagon flare easterly
From Burmah to Kamakura,

And down the loaded air there comes [as per C]
The thunder of Thibetan drums,
And droned -- "Om mane padme hums" --
A world's-width from Kamakura.

Yet Brahmans rule Benares still,
Buddh-Gaya's ruins pit the hill,
And beef-fed zealots threaten ill
To Buddha and Kamakura.

Fmaj7 C
A tourist-show, a legend told,
G Dm7
A rusting bulk of bronze and gold,
Fmaj7 C
So much, and scarce so much, ye hold
G Am7
The meaning of Kamakura?

But when the morning prayer is prayed, [as per B, end on C chord]
Think, ere ye pass to strife and trade,
Is God in human image made
No nearer than Kamakura?
________________________________________

* Om mane padme hums -- The Buddhist invocation.

credits

from Rudyard Kipling, released June 19, 2015
Poem by Rudyard Kipling
Music by Toby Darling

license

tags

about

Toby Darling image

Toby Darling Penang, Malaysia

Amateur enthusiast.
Feel free to do anything you want with these tracks, I am not interested in making money from music.

contact / help

Contact Toby Darling

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Toby Darling, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now