In ‘The Odyssey’, Odysseus spoke
of Agamemnon’s human sacrifice,
for favourable winds to wage war.
The appalled Penelope asks,
‘Why would the gods
want his daughter’s life?’
Odysseus replies,
‘The power of a sacrifice is
in the cost to the person making it.’
Penelope remarks,
‘That’s monstrous!’
(Odysseus did not reply.)
But what ‘gods’ would favour war,
unless they love that violent,
which would make them monstrous, ungodly?
But what ‘gods’ would expect blood,
unless they mimic that demonic?
which would make them monstrous, ungodly?
If ‘the power of a sacrifice
is in the cost to the person making it’,
may all sacrifice their ‘cherished’ greed, hatred and delusion.
To renounce these three poisons,
which are the roots of evil,
this is the true sacrifice, that all Buddhas praise!
