Monday, March 30, 2020


There are no lasting functions of the mind...
Dhammapada 18.255

Sunday, March 29, 2020



Flowers: seeing the foam-like nature of the body, and awakening to its mirage-like quality...
Dhammapada 4.46


 

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Minoh Park



Restless mind  -
listen to
what is waiting for you.
Recognize your own ignorance. become wise
Dhammapada 5.63

Paper sakura -
our condolences.
Far away,
the fire's lit.


 

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

new moon - no inflow


hoshigaki 
spring -
darkness tonight,
a tea-stained towel
 
 

Monday, March 23, 2020

Long-suffering patience is the supreme ascetic practice. Nirvana is supreme, say the Buddhas. One is certainly not an ascetic who hurts others, nor a  person of religion who hurts others.
Dhammapada 14.184 

Two trees
uncut,
once bare,
are budding.

Eaves  -
let lichen be.

This home rooms with plant,
will find abundance.

3 prayers for now


Mother of God, star of the sea, pray for the wanderer, pray for me. 
- Fr. John Lingard(1771–1851)


Parvati's child, one of three, watch over me, remove obstacles. May your trunk swing, bring us all up, and into life .


Jizo at the crossroads, cradling children in your apron of compassion, guide us through, as you delay, waiting for us. 

walking

To the east
what was known
as Eyam
rests.
West,
the dusk
rushes up.
A wrestled logic
splayed, laid between -
this is our
path.


We go to
school,
home,
from
one room
to another,
along a
road of
rough
shod
walls
and
through
gardens
sieving
us,
iron
from
sand.

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Blunt objects,
the dying.

Mask them.

They'll disappear.

We're sick
and sick of knowing.

Halo
the hallowed,
hollowed.

It's not enough.























I've kept you
within a dream
remembering
where
you slept
and died
as others have
and do.

you
died.

I'm
here
witnessing
emptiness
shelved,
enforced,
impossible to reject.

if you could,
would you
meet me
streamside
in the next dream

we'll
whisper across the banks
of love -
one shore
to another.



Saturday, March 21, 2020

For K.

Violence - he who does no violence to creatures seeking happiness like himself does find happiness after death.
Dhammapada 10. 132




That soft cheek punched rose red.

Underneath, three furrows bled,
small sickle cuts,
already scabbing over.

Look at you  -
a forced bulb, purpling eye.

This is your face,
after anger dropped from the sky -
a wing-clipped bird.

No world for a spring like this.


Equinox

The ignorant age like oxen. Their flesh increases, but not their understanding.
Dhammapada 11.152



Trees
escape
fences.

My room
pulses
green.


 

Monday, March 16, 2020

When one is overcome by this wretched clinging desire in the world, one's sorrows increase like grass growing up after a lot of rain.
Dhammapada 24.335


Without heat, lost, you are summoned.

Now nothing matters but kindness.

This will warm you.

the bare infinitive

Bare verbs?
These exist.
Some verbs
perceive
or call to us,
make us stay,
study them.

Let us go through life without easily made decisions.

Bare verbs describe necessities that push and pull.

Why do these verbs remain alive,
allow change, admire firmness,
let light in?

A language reminder -

what's begun barely

is zero, and infinite.


Sunday, March 15, 2020

One walk,
two
you get lost,
step
in puddles,
turn to face a sun shower.

The day is grey
or
maybe
blue.
You walk again,
one walk, two.

The wind blew strong
all night long.

Spring will come early
or late,
a spate of weather-read errors -
unpredictable.

Meanwhile,
the street isn't empty or full.
Yet I'll bet there aren't as many children
out,
due to,
due to,
well
you
know,
the whole world does.

One walk,
two.
Prepare yourself
for early or late isolation,
spring rain.

Fierce winds
are coming.

花言葉

Hanakotoba (花言葉) is the Japanese form of the language of flowers. In this practice, plants were given codes and passwords. Physiological effects and actions under the color of the flowers put into words from the impressions of nature and the presence of thorns with the height of tall plants, flowers and garlands of flowers through the various types. These are meant to convey emotion and communicate directly to the recipient or viewer without needing the use of words.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanakotoba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_symbolism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_flower


One week in Osaka



マグノリア

Magnolia kobus, 
also known as 
mokryeon,
kobus magnolia,
or kobushi magnolia,
native to 

Kyushu, Honshu, Hokkaido,

the peninsula of Korea
a small tree
suitable for small gardens
or

magnolia obovata
a large
splendid
nest of white birds
File: Magnolia obovata 10.JPG