“Legend of Santorini, Past and Present” poem by Lan Xin

Lan Xin (Lan Xin)

World Memory Heritage The Only Female Inheritor of Dongba Culture, International Renowned Writer & Poet. Internationally acclaimed bilingual writer, poet and translator, member of the Chinese Writers Association. The only female inheritor of UNESCO-listed Dongba Culture, International Disseminator of Dongba Culture and practitioner of Chinese culture’s global outreach. Winner of the Italian Francesco Giampietri International Literary Award, President of Lanxin Samei Academy and Dean of Yulong Wenbi Dongba Culture Academy.

Eva Lianou Petropoulou
Αποκλειστικη Eκπρόσωπος για την Ελλάδα για την προώθηση της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς – Dongba Culture Κίνα

Legend of Santorini, Past and Present

I wake from the dust of ancient Minoan civilisation

All marks of past and present lives stored within my ālaya-vijñāna

Across rivers and mountains I journey to an eastern secret land

Dali of China known as the Santorini of the Orient

Cangshan Mountain rises as an emerald screen

Erhai Lake unfolds like a clear pure mirror

Auspicious clouds spread layer upon layer winding around white cliffside eaves

As I lift my gaze visions unfold amid ancient Aegean murals

Mother Earth Rhea crowned with undulating cloud-patterned raiment

Then my spirit drifts into the sky of the Dongba Creation Epic

Mother Earth Chenheng Baobai rests upon boundless soft cloud

Joyful laughter drifts through blue-and-white cliff dwellings

Peace pervades mountain and sea alike

Every traveller who journeys here casts off mortal cares

They linger by the lake capture fleeting scenes

Cherishing each rare moment of bliss

Mountains and waters wash away restlessness

Leaving tranquil beauty in every gaze

My thoughts drift back thirty-six hundred years to volcanic cliffs of the Aegean

I behold the Minoan ancestors who honoured light freedom and perpetual peace for all time

My mind turns again to the timeless verses of the Dongba Creation Epic

The primal ancestor of humankind wed celestial maidens twice

Their intertwined blood birthed humanity mountains rivers plants and all living things

Thus humankind and all nature share one father bound as siblings of different mothers

Lost in the fleeting intersection of ancient and modern civilisations

A beam of divine auspicious light descends to enfold me

It cleanses all vicissitudes and worldly weariness trapped within my ālaya-vijñāna across endless cycles of rebirth

Through every lifetime and all that has come to pass

I vow this moment to become a messenger of light

To guard peace and serenity across the world

To carry forward the eternal flame of ancient Eastern and Western civilisations

I also choose to be a messenger of love

To protect the pure haven every heart yearns for

I pray every wandering soul on earth

May find a sacred land to settle its spirit

May all beings become light become love

Unfolding the soft radiance deep within their souls for the universal harmony of all cosmos

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