Ordained Celtic Buddhist Priests
Ricky McCarson
Ricky McCarson (aka Finnbheara Acalanatha) is a New Jersey native and currently lives in upstate South Carolina. He is married and the father of two little girls. He is a U.S. Coast Guard Veteran and currently working as a Map Maker (GIS Specialist). Ricky is a poet, musician, perpetual student, gardener, and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteer.
Ricky was ordained as a Celtic Buddhist Priest in February of 2021. His practice is eclectic, mixing elements of different traditions but firmly grounded in the Early Buddhist Texts of the Pali Canon. He actively studies teachings from all manifestations of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana) and seeks to understand the entire spectrum of the Dharma so that he can better serve the Buddhist community and any spiritual seekers interested in the path. He jokingly refers to himself as “The Liminal One” because his practice straddles so many traditions. He also feels as though he has a “heart of a householder and mind of a monk”, having one foot planted in both worlds.
He is currently overseeing a new project, the Celtic Buddhist Priory. The priory will offer instruction and community online and in-person. His hope is to raise funds and establish a retreat center in South Carolina at some point in the future. You can reach him at the contacts below.
Website: www.celticbuddhistpriory.com
Gofundme: https://gofund.me/4b32b0c2
Email: finn.acala@gmail.com
Priory Email: celticbuddhistpriory@gmail.com
Eido Boru
BUDDHA Monk Song
(a monkpunk tale)
By Sir Eido Boru OCBM
a Celtic Buddhist Bard
Some people would like their life to be calmer
like it says in the Buddha’s Dharma
no robbing homes or car steals
ban coward punches and drug deals
Bodhidharma sat for years in a cave
then gave lessons on how to behave
practicing precepts, ethics and morals
is the best way to rest on your laurels
We should work hard to pay the rent
and our taxes to the government
shop wisely for the healthiest food
eating well will keep you in a good mood
Make sure the kids go off to school
this will stop them being ignorant fools
those who learn reading, writing and arithmetic
won’t have to work with a shovel and pick
Honor your mother and your father too
love your sisters and brothers please do
help the old folks from across the road
do no harm is the best code
Follow your breath in meditation
this will assist in your preparation
to make your life a whole lot calmer
like it says in the Buddha’s Dharma.
*This can be sung be sung as a song.
Best Behavior Blues
by Lugh
I was told
to stay at home
the busy streets
I shouldn’t roam
Said to my friend
You gotta bugger off
You got a cold
and a cough
Washing my hands
in soap and water
20 times a day
because I oughta
Off to the supermarket
dashing down the aisles
filling the trolley
with piles and piles
Alone in the garden
reading book after book
damn dogs barking
damn noisy chooks
Watching the News
on the TV
disaster after disaster
is told to me
Government’s giving money
they’re not being mean
so labs can find
an antivirus vaccine
Tears in my eyes
as I view the statistics
thank you China
the world’s going ballistic.
WE COME WE GO
(a monkpunk tale)
By Sir Eido Boru
a Celtic Buddhist Bard
Conditions were right
BIGBANGTHEORY
dark dust sunlight
Earth looks dreary
asteroids smash
comets crash
perhaps the cause
of extinct dinosaurs
birds on the wing
hear them sing
treeclans
orangutans
multiman
black white tan
the historic flood
lots of mud
comes Gautama
his dharma
precepts and karma
DONOHARMA
soto zen
deep meditation
Chogyam Trungpa
celtic lamas
the abrahamics
so calamic
many many wars
lots of gore
much manic
pure panic
mass lunacy
romantic fantasy
music 'n' art
horse 'n' cart
steam trains
aeroplanes
man on the moon
spacejunk strewn
satellites
into the starlight
conditions now bad
gone crazy mad
WORLDWARFOUR
we are no more
COULDA
(a monkpunk tale)
By Sir Eido Boru
It never happened
but it coulda been fun
if Syd Vicious* met
Buddha the Enlightened One
Syd coulda screamed
An obscene song
Buddha coulda talked
About right and wrong
Syd coulda yelled
About blood and hate
Buddha coulda told
what’s good and what’s great
Syd coulda ranted
About bullocks and junk
If they sat together
You coulda got Monkpunk*
*Syd Vicious was a member of the UK band “The Sex Pistols”
*Monkpunk is an irreverent verse which can be rude, crude and ungrammatical
LIKE MANY OF YOU
(a monkpunk tale)
By Sir Eido Boru, a Celtic Buddhist Bard
So you still skirl
the ancient bagpipes
but wear designer kilts
with green stripes
So you sing
“Oh Danny Boy”
with tear filled eyes
and much sad joy.
So you drink a bottle of
the Tullamore Dew
and many pints of
the Guiness brew
So you grow prata*
all over the place
and cabaiste* too
for added taste
So you have marshy bogs
but there’s little heather
to cross these quagmires
is a great endeavour
So you have read
James Joyce and Oscar Wilde
their tales are famous
with such excellent style
So these literary genii
they aren’t Scottish
like many of you
they are Celtic Irish
*potatoes
*cabbage
Like Many of You (Part 2)
By Sir Eido Boru, A Celtic Buddhist Bard)
So the Book of Armagh
of ancient fey
the first to mention
St. Patrick’s Day.
So William Butler Yeats
the rebels’ poetic choice
daytime Ulysses
the genius James Joyce.
So the great Bram Stoker
bloody dark Dracula
brilliant Oscar Wilde
Dorian Grey psycho drama.
So the Anam Cara
of John Donohue
his unique poems
Connamara Blues.
So these literary genii
they aren’t Scottish
like many of you
they are Celtic Irish.
Now Time
(a monk punk tale)
by Sir Eido Boru OCBM - a Celtic Buddhist Bard
Now I live in
an inner-city park
listening to the crows
crying f a r k
Now grass and trees
flowers bugs and ants
secret night creatures
that sing and dance
Now sun and wind
moon and stars
refreshing rain
horn honking cars
Now sometimes cold
sometimes very hot
it matters little
it’s my chosen lot
Now curios folk
stop and stare
a few want to talk
showing they care
Now some give me
their yesterday’s food
a generous blessing
to eat in solitude
Now canned baked beans
after dawn meditation
plus stale bread crusts
cause aberration
Now given a thrashing
early one night
black eyes broken teeth
are a delightful sight
Now crossing my legs
in deep meditation
watching my breath
for true realisation
Now caer witrin
emerald grove
Celtic buddhism
tales behold
Now the black crows
offering their wisdom
and my dharma thoughts
zendruidism