A quiet notice V2Melody closes at midnight on , Spanish time.

Closes

A note from Richard

V2Melody will close at midnight on 20 January 2028

This site has been a retirement project in musical poetry: poems chosen with care and set to music, offered freely for as long as it felt right to keep the garden open.

The work no longer holds the place it once did in my life. I have gone as far with it as I wish to go. Like a sand mandala, it was made to be completed and then released. I am not attached to its permanence, and I do not believe any of it needs to last beyond the time it was given. The poems were already here before I arrived and began to experiment with them. They will still be here when these musical experiments, and indeed myself, have been swept away, like the sand of a mandala. Nothing has been lost.

I want a simpler end to my life, days of simple love and enjoyment with my wonderful wife of 20 years. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit that life.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the site.

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this site.

Until midnight on 20 January 2028, Spanish time, everything remains available exactly as it is. That is when my VPS server contract comes to an end, and it will not be renewed. After that, the server will be switched off and the site will disappear.

The Mandala Is Finished explains this more fully.

Thank you to anyone who found a poem, a track, or a quiet moment here.

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard

Home › Glossary › Letter S

Sutra

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Concise aphoristic texts in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions that encapsulate philosophical, ritual, or grammatical teachings.

Detailed Definition
Sutras—like the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or Brahma Sutras—are dense, mnemonic formulations meant for oral transmission and deep study. In poetry, they appear as references to authoritative wisdom or as structural models for brevity and depth. Though not poetic themselves, sutras underpin much philosophical verse, which expands their insights into lyrical form. Poets may allude to sutras to ground emotional or devotional expression in disciplined thought. They represent the marriage of precision and profundity, where every word carries layered meaning.
Example
Example in poetry:
A Mahāyāna poem: “The sūtra is not text—it’s the Buddha’s breath preserved in ink”; In a modern verse, “Reading the Heart Sūtra, emptiness hums in my chest”; A minimalist reflection: “Sūtra: wisdom passed hand to hand”; A student’s note: “Sūtras aren’t read—they’re practiced.”

Note: “Sutras” is the plural of “sūtra”; examples align with ID 17958 but pluralized: A Mahāyāna poem: “The sūtras are the Buddha’s voice echoing across centuries”; In a modern verse, “I keep the Diamond and Lotus Sūtras on my nightstand—not as books, but as companions”; A minimalist reflection: “Sūtras: maps for the mind’s liberation”; A student’s lyric: “Each sūtra is a key—some fit my locks, some don’t—but all are sacred.”
Additional Notes
A Sutra in Buddhism is a discourse or sermon traditionally attributed to the Buddha or his close disciples. These texts form part of the Buddhist canon (e.g., the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Canon). Sutras are typically prose narratives that begin "Thus have I heard..." and contain the core doctrines. For poetry students, sutras are the primary source material for Buddhist philosophy and poetry, containing countless parables and metaphors, such as the famous "Parable of the Burning House" in the Lotus Sutra.

Sutras are extremely concise, aphoristic statements that encapsulate vast philosophical, grammatical, or ritual knowledge in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. They are designed for memorization. Key examples include the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Brahma Sutras. Their extreme brevity means they require a commentary (bhashya) to be understood. For a poet, the sutra form represents the ultimate in precision and economy of language, where every syllable carries profound weight.
Also Known As
Aphorism Thread Sutras
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