When a Buddha went to the river, saw the gulls

When a Buddha went to the river, saw the gulls,
The thick brown water moving quickly down
The spine of this soft continent, he spoke
About a boundless ocean, or the way

The Rishi saw beyond the sky. A sound
They sung about the sides of that mountain
That many heard and cloaked in other names.
Right at the mountain where the rivers end

Or where they start, whatever's north or south
I guess we know from the word map we use,
Whether we know it or not. He heard the clouds

Suppose the gnarled and tangled river oak
Was another Bodhi tree; a lotus curled
Its stem up to the surface and bloomed.