Love Across the River of Forgetfulness: Falling for the Underworld Messenger

The flowers on the far shore by the River of Three Crossings bloom in vivid splendor, their scarlet petals as brilliant as blood. They carpet the road to the Yellow Springs, their fiery colors searing my eyes. Suddenly, the Buddha’s voice coils around me:

On the far shore of the River of Forgetfulness

There is neither life nor death

Neither joy nor sorrow

Neither desire nor need

It is a blissful world where every sorrow is forgotten

And there is a flower

Beyond the Three Realms

Outside the Five Elements

It grows on the far shore of the Weak Water

Without stem or leaf

Brilliant and crimson

The Buddha says it is the flower of the other shore

When the flower blooms on the far shore

It is a single blaze of red;

When the flower blooms, there are no leaves,

When the leaves grow, there are no flowers;

They yearn for and cherish one another, yet can never meet,

Each alone on the road to the other shore.