Scott Edward Anderson's Poetry Blog

A few weeks from now—on May 8th, to be exact—poet Gary Snyder will complete his 95th trip around the Sun. That we have had Snyder on our planet for nearly a century—and may yet celebrate his hundredth with him—is a remarkable gift. Those of us lucky enough to have studied with him, in whatever capacity, have been doubly blessed, both by his instruction and by his example.

I’ve been thinking about Snyder a lot lately, partly because I’ve reached the same age he was when I studied with him and because what he taught me continues to resonate. (I’ve written about that experience elsewhere, here and here.)

But Snyder’s upcoming birthday isn’t the only reason he’s been on my mind. It’s because we need his example now more than ever. We need his fierce compassion. We need his brand of resistance, rooted in a holistic, ecological worldview that calls for a fundamental shift in how we live, think, and act. 

Snyder challenges us to confront environmental degradation and social injustice as intertwined crises, urging resistance to industrial capitalism, the culture of consumption, and the exploitation of both nature and people. This resistance, in his view, is not just political or economic, it’s also spiritual and intellectual. A path toward a more just, more sustainable way of being.

There are countless expressions of this ethic in his poetry—“For All,” from his Pulitzer Prize-winning Turtle Island (1974)), comes to mind. But today, I’m thinking about his “Smokey the Bear Sutra.” Snyder wrote it in 1969 for the Sierra Club Wilderness Conference and released it to the public domain so it could be freely shared.  

In the poem, he reimagines Smokey the Bear, the iconic U.S. Forest Service symbol, not as a mascot, but as a reincarnation of the Vairocana Buddha, here to save not only the forests, but all living beings.

“My Smokey is essentially a dharmapala, a dharma protector, and I modeled him after the Japanese figure of Fudo,” Snyder later said. “In Sanskrit he has the name Achala, which means ‘immovable, unshakable,’ which is also what fudo means. He’s got a fierce visage and is usually pictured surrounded by flames, further evidence that the Forest Service’s Smokey is his North American incarnation.”

Snyder confided, “the sutra’s basic message is that our sacred responsibility is to protect all of life…to protect life down to the smallest little creature, protect our community, maintain our own practice, and honor impermanence, all at the same time.”

We need a little more of that sense of responsibility these days, especially considering the chaos swirling around us.

Here is Gary Snyder’s “Smokey the Bear Sutra”:

Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago, the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite Void gave a discourse to all the assembled elements and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings—even the grasses, to the number of 13 billion, each one born from a seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning Enlightenment on the planet Earth.

“In some future time, there will be a continent called America. It will have great centers of power called such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur, Everglades and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon. The human race in that era will get into troubles all over its head and practically wreck everything in spite of its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature.”

“The twisting strata of the great mountains and the pulsings of volcanoes are my love burning deep in the Earth. My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and granite, to be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that future American Era I shall enter a new form, to cure the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger and mindless rage, eating food that will not fill it.”

And he showed himself in his true form of

SMOKEY THE BEAR

A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs, showing that he is aroused and watchful.

Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath appearances, cuts the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war;

His left paw in the mudra of Comradely Display—indicating that all creatures have the full right to live to their limits and that deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and lizards all grow in the realm of the Dharma;

Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the countless men oppressed by a civilization that claims to save but often destroys;

Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the west, symbolic of the forces that guard the wilderness, which is the Natural State of the Dharma and the true path of man on Earth:
all true paths lead through mountains—

With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the kali-yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is contained vast and free in the Blue Sky and Green Earth of One Mind;

Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great Earth has food enough for everyone who loves her and trusts her;

Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs, smashing the worms of capitalism and totalitarianism;

Indicating the task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses, canned foods, universities, and shoes, master the Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech and Mind, and fearlessly chop down the rotten trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country America and then burn the leftover trash.

Wrathful but Calm. Austere but Comic. Smokey the Bear will Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or slander him . . .

HE WILL PUT THEM OUT.

Thus his great Mantra:

Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana Sphataya hum traka ham mam

“I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND
BE THIS RAGING FURY DESTROYED.”

And he will protect those who love the woods and rivers, Gods and animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick people, musicians, playful women, and hopeful children;

And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television, or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR’S WAR SPELL:

DROWN THEIR BUTTS
CRUSH THEIR BUTTS
DROWN THEIR BUTTS
CRUSH THEIR BUTTS

And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out with his vajra-shovel.

Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice will accumulate merit as countless as the sands of Arizona and Nevada.

Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick.
Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature.
Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts.
Will always have ripened blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a pine tree to sit at.

AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT

. . . thus we have heard . . .

–Gary Snyder
(A note at the end of the poem states that it “may be reproduced free forever.”)