[Dharma Stories]

AN APOLOGY

Sangharakshita: A Life in Verse

An Apology

We live in the Age of Apologies.

Here is an apology that is much more meaningful than many being made today.

Mankind owes a profound apology

To the Birds, for having polluted the air through which they fly,

To the Ape and the Tiger, for having destroyed the forests in which they live,

To the Deer and the Bison, for ruthlessly hunting them almost to extinction,

To the Rivers and Streams, for poisoning them with chemicals,

To the Earth itself, for greedily pillaging its riches of silver and gold,

To the Ocean, for slaughtering the greatest of her children, the Whale, ‘for scientific purposes’,

To the Mountain Peaks, for defiling their virgin snows with our trash,

To the Moon, for rudely invading her sacred space,

To the Stars, for obscuring their brightness with the smoke of our cities,

To the Sun, for not gratefully acknowledging our dependence on his bounty,

To the truly great Men and Women of the past, for not honouring their memory as we should and for not walking in their footsteps.

Sangharakshita on “An Apology”

Listen to the whole interview. Or to individual tracks below.

The second in a series of ten intimate interviews between Sangharakshita and Saddhanandi, reflecting on Sangharakshita’s own selections from his extensive body of poetry. In this segment they discuss the poem “An Apology”.

Track 1: Reading of the full poem “An Apology”

Track 2: Sangharakshita’s inspiration in writing the poem

Track 3: “We live in the age of apologies”

Track 4: Making our apologies to the animals of the world

Track 5: Making our apologies to the Earth and the environment

Track 6: Apologies to the cosmos, recapturing our respect for the beauty and sacredness of nature

Track 7: Apologies to the sun

Track 8: Apologies to the truly great men and women of the past

Track 9: Considering what we can do as individuals to make a difference

Track 10: Final thoughts on “An Apology”

Next: The Family Reunion