woodpecker

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light snow -
a woodpecker hammers
in the silence





. woodpecker, kitsutsuki 啄木鳥 　


basically a kigo for all autumn, but these days I hear him every morning when I open the window.
And today, in the silence of freshly fallen snow, the sound was most eerie in the valley !




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neve leggera -
il martello di un picchio
nel silenzio

Tr. by Moussia


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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2011

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

silence of sunshine

autumn brook - the silence of sunshine on stones

. Okutsu, September 2007 　　


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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2010

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

empty mind

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



empty mind ...
I wonder who is chatting
inside




My Japanese sensei used to say

Empty your heart and mind completely, and receive the haiku as a present into this emptiness.
You can not MAKE a good haiku happen, it has to make itself through your empty mind.
Do not try to be witty or poetic or "deep" or anything ... just let nature do the talking through you.


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Selflessness
Bruce Ross

If affective perception determines much of haiku feeling, selfless perception often determines how haiku consciousness exists. For this reason Robert Spiess, the long-time editor of Modern Haiku, preferred the term "feeling" (senses centred on nature, aware) to "emotion" (very strong subjective feeling centred on non-rational mind) when discussing haiku poetics.

At the most basic level the personal "I" is usually left out of haiku. Basically, the personal "I", the Freudian ego and its mental constructs, let us say its emotion, gets in the way of the haiku experience. Empirical procedures and rational thinking that determine the Western mind also get in the way.

The Zen Buddhist idea of an empty mind, the openness to phenomenological presence, is suggestive of an appropriate mental climate.

A Zen saying explains the situation: "One thought follows another without interruption. But if you allow these thoughts to link up to a chain, you put yourself in bondage".

How does one not get bogged down in thought and experience haiku consciousness? A haiku by Kai Falkman offers a response:

the skier stops
to leave room
for the snow's silence

The first two lines of this poem describe the cessation of what Zen Buddhists call the "monkey mind", a continuous flow of thought. Enlightenment or clear mind, the present-tense clarity of perception, cannot occur when the monkey mind is present.
In effect one must clear one's mind to allow things to speak for themselves.
The phenomenological reduction, the skier stopping, accomplished, the snow, its silence, can speak for itself. Here the personal "I" is not used. The poet, his will, is not stopping the skis. The snow's silence is. The "I" is not what is important. What is important is the snow's silence. The stopping is a mere notation leading to the snow's silence. In many ways this poem becomes an evocation of a kind of enlightenment experience.

A monk asked Li-shan: "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the West?"
"There is no ‘what' here," said Li-shan.
"What is the reason??"
"Just because things are such as they are," replied Li-shan.

- Zen mondo

source : The Essence of Haiku
By Bruce Ross. autumn 2007


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googeling at random


The Empty Mind is not just for martial artists, but for anyone who wishes to improve themselves both spiritually and physically

Amazon.com: The Empty Mind: Ueshiba Moriteru

The beginner’s mind is an open mind, an empty mind, a ready mind,

An Open Mind is not an Empty Mind.

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.


Empty Mind. Musings, observations, rantings and commentary by a libertarian Christian Zen Master.

Taoist Art. Learning to be free in the empty mind.


... an empty mind goes a long way toward ensuring a full pocketbook.

one of the basic things that individuals can do to improve the quality of their "thinking" is to have an empty mind.

MySpace profile for empty mind with pictures, videos, personal blog, interests, information about me and more.


Empty Mind gifts from the CartoonStock directory


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ZEN KOAN METHOD
Empty your Mind and enter in tune with the Cosmic Mind
Lao Tzu Chapter 11

11.Usefulness of Emptiness
Empty your Mind

Thirty spokes are united in one hub (to make a wheel);
But the usefulness(the function) of the wheel depends on the empty space- the center hole of the hub.
Clay is molded into a vessel or a bowl
But it is the empty space within that makes it useful.

Doors and windows are cut out of the walls of a house,
But it is the empty (open) space inside that makes it useful (livable) .

Therefore take advantage of what exists (what the mind receives),
But use the emptiness (to open a way to enter in tune with the Cosmic Mind).



円相 ENSOO





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frieden und freude
zerplatzen . . .
zen zen zen




. . . comments on facebook, 10/2010


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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2009


[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
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copyright worries

talk to me - your moving silence makes me shiver

. Visiting Koyasan,a mountain monastery


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May 30, 2010

I posted this on facebook a few days ago and suddenly it became

der Stein des Anstosses


One person copied the photo and published it in his album without asking permission or mentioning my name ... thus starting an Odyssee ...


John Potts alias "haiku crossroads",
alias "syllables17", alias AZTEC
. . . . . alias
Little Bursts of Awakening!
beautifulisness
The Haiku Master
The White Knight of Haiku
haikurambler
smallworld-1@bt...
sunbeam_city7@hotmail.com
From: John Potts waywardway@hotmail.co.uk
platounplugged or zenartist
alias ZEN SIMPLEon BLOGGER

. . . . . of facebook
Zen Guy
Opal Fields
James Butler
Haiku ?
Haiku Dialects
The Haiku Shaman
geodesic_eye
AbAgail Lowry (posing as a young girl) NOT Abigail Lowry
Yura Neejit (you are an idiot) of FB

. . . and continuing to use new names . . .

Haiku ukiaH - facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/groups/haiku.email/
(together with Zen Anectodes / Megan McMurray McGowen)


Replying to my reprimand, he wrote the following

"I took the pic of the pic (print screen) of the pic you took of a rock that belongs to Mount Koyasan Buddhist Sanctuary.
Frankly, I was going to use a better pic - but I was pressed for time, Gabi Greve.
Get over yourself."


When I reprimanded him again, he wrote:

Get some rest Gabi Greve -
you're making a fool of yourself, babe.
facebook: haiku crossroads


after deleting my photo

No, the whole concept of my post was upgraded, Gabi Greve - once I found the time in my busy schedule :
Much improved, thanks for the inspiration old gal!



To a friend who tried to challenge him on the copyright issue, he wrote

... you seem to have issues way beyond this overblown and grossly distorted nonsense though. Listen up. If you have no constructive things to share here with us all at haiku crossroads, buzz off back to your midden.
Anyway, this pic was deleted. You've seen the improved post. So what's this, you want to joust me is it, dudette?
..
Are you mentally ill?
I would rather not BAN you, there is still this open challenge for a haiku joust, if haiku jousting is not your thing - pick a subject of haiku theory to discuss.
Either way I'll eat you for breakfast, young lady! :D
.
are you mentally ill? I ask this kindly as he seems incapable of responding rationally to simple questions and requests. I'll monitor the situation.
... facebook


and more from JP

And YOU are totally misinformed
No worries though, there's a lot of misinformation polluting the Cyberian wastelands of the ghettos of pseud. Expert haijins are used to the rabid jealousy of haiku (et al) wannabes and other rainy day folks. God bless 'em.
. . . but do cheer up, grouchy dude! :D

On June 01

THE CRAZIES HAVE ALL DELETED THEIR COMMENTS LIKE THE CRAVEN FRAUDS THEY ALL ARE.
AT LEAST THE AIR IS FRESHER!

rabbi grebe
ye old lobster pot
wove out o' wattery dreams und insect
menus


source : haiku crossroads


John Potts on Facebook

HAIKU: Little Bursts of Awakening!
John Potts (creator)
smallworld_1@btinternet.com

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Interlude
January 2, 2012

Out of the blue John Potts started an attack on me and my friends in facebook again.
Since I have blocked him and all of his aliases I am aware of there, I have no access to his postings, but sometimes friends keep me informed.
He had even been posting in one of the forums, where I (the administrator) could not see it. (That is a big problem with facebook.)
Samples:

"... she (and her silly cronies)

GREVE AND HER SHALLOW AND OBSEQUIOUS PUNDIT CRONIES.

"The vocal majority (Greve being one) mouth spurious, half-baked methodologies and offer vanity publishing and a home for the lost and the lonely. Fair enough. What is not offered, though, is the real deal. The reason being is they simply haven't got a clue, really, as to what haiku is all about.
They have not taken the bold step to be personally free from their culturally socialised habits of thought.
This is robot."

"They prance around like enlightened gurus and yet... know next to nothing.
Little wonder that Western haiku is simply an ongoing embarrassment in so many quarters.
The blind leading the blind in a merry dance of fruitless fantasy.
Basho's probably turning in his grave."


It seems he even takes notes of deletes postings . . .


To protect my friends here is just one note,
representing the many.

Gabi-san,
A quick note to say how much I appreciate you.
I've been on the receiving end of a JP blind-side attack and know how it feels. Even though we all know he is a sad and unhappy man it can still hurt. You are completely undeserving of such an attack, I'm sorry it happened.
Again, thank you for being my friend and for all you do for the haiku community.


. Hokusai, the Great Wave and the Tsunami 北斎　津波　 .


. Honkadori 本歌取り allusion .



another interlude, July 22, 2012

John Potts writes in his google pages:

As a result of my general comment on a post by Gabi Greve at Haiku Foundation Forums, documented on Empress' Old Clothes, the following was posted:

"Thanks to the stalking of John Potts, I am going to delete all my entries here. I advise the admins to delete the rest. You can find copies in the goggle pages of John Potts." - Gabi Greve

All I will remark is that my daily haikai diary on Facebook ( Haiku Crossroads - a family orientated site ) was spammed incessantly by Greve. Then, after several days of harassment around the clock, as documented on one of my "goggle pages" all evidence of her usury disappeared (along with many other posts of overt and persistent attack
by Greve and her old boys and girls haiku club amigos --
aka: the haiku loony brigade ).
Poof, all gone. Every trace of their mob-mania expunged. Having covered their tracks they headed for the hills (with their tails between their legs). This taught me to keep proper records of some things.

So, ipso facto, disappearing evidence is not new. Frankly, I believe that Greve deleted her responses because they were embarrassingly absurd in the light of negative public reaction to Takiguchi's nutty editorial. Critiques by Haiku Foundation Forums' members on Greve's self-deluded vanity post confirm my own pithy summery regarding this eulogised (as in over-the-top) "haiku" which plagiarises the Issa classic:


"A poem maybe. Otherwise we have been given permission to write a sentence and call it a library. To say haiku/hokku is anything it wants to be is, clearly, utter nonsense. If a short story morphs into a novelette it is no longer a short story. It is a novelette. If a haiku becomes a sonnet then it is not a limerick either." - jp

As for "stalking". Well, that's an often used smear tactic, to the point of weasel-worded cliché. (Incidentally, I have better things to do with my time.) Of course, the subtext here is that Greve is worth the attention - they call this political spin. Whatever, since when does one comment constitute "stalking"? If this post had been by anyone else I would have still commented as I did. Why?
Because the 3-liner, penned by Greve and virtually sanctified by this Takiguchi character (chief honcho at the so called World Haiku Club) has been spuriously elevated to a status way beyond its actual copycat reality; and this for reasons, pontificated by Susuma Takiguchi, which are so utterly absurd as to be laughable.
Definitely a case in need of whistle blowing.


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Now back to 2010 .



Well, here is a bit more about this:
. . . My Facebook : the Koya Stone Story



rudeness
in the name of haiku . . .
sad summer rain


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some comments of friends


Copyright or no, it is a simple matter of respect. It's sad that such things are not commonplace among people and that sometimes good behavior has to be legislated. You are a treasure, Gabi.


John, is the following really your response to Gabi? -
"I took the pic of the pic (print screen) of the pic you took of a rock that belongs to Mount Koyasan Buddhist Sanctuary. Frankly, I was going to use a better pic - but I was pressed for time, Gabi Greve. Get over yourself."
Surely you have more respect for other ...writers/artists than this? Most haiku writers I know would be more than happy for anyone to use their work... all we have to do is ask, and credit them.



"Get over yourself" he says: "Get over yourself" ????
Not: "I apologize" ?
And then he insults the picture and Gabi? Pompous horse's ass.



Well Mr. Potts, you've followed your own advice to the tee: Show don't tell.
You've shown the haiku community just who you are.


Your act of PLAGIARISM, John, to which you have admitted, marks you out very clearly for what you are. The creative community needs to be aware of people like you.


Dear Gabi,
a violation of copyright feels like a personal violation... it has happened me too... and then, to be insulted as well is a nightmare... No idea how someone with his attitude can write haiku...


John- You show a boorish attitude to fellow poets.
Respecting copyright and each other are necessary to good will amongst poets.
Grow up.



John, using Gabi's personal property without her permission than chastening her publically for objecting to what you did was rude and disrespectful. Imagine if someone used your car without your permission. Gabi is not full of herself but a humble human being who has mentored many and given much to the haiku world without fanfare or charging money.
the haiku path is not a cartoon or a world wrestling federation wrestling bout. It's one of humility, respect, and an emptying of self.
RW


.................................................................................



Is John Potts a haiku poet or a charlatan?
Has he been published? References please.

Strangely, although I have been familiar with both printed and online haiku publications for many years, the name 'John Potts' rings no bells. From his presence in this self-made Facebook page it is evident that he considers himself something of an authority, so clearly I have somehow missed all those references where he has been recognised by authorities in the genre.
Can someone please help me rectify my failing here, and point me at those places where his work and theorisation have received recognition and publication? Thanks for all assistance in this matter.



To JP
Why will you not apologise to Gabi?
For your theft of her photo and you subsequent rudeness ...


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Why will you not apologise to Gabi?

ANSWER, by JP

Now that's a polite question, -
so, I will reply clearly, but only one time :

Gabi Greve has misrepresented this situation, for reasons best known to herself. The mob mentality has been harnessed to crucify the sinner who would fain question the emperors new clothes - I'm shivering in my socks!

Because of this disgraceful and underhanded behaviour
I have no inclination to apologise.
For what anyway?
I was spotlighting Gabi Greve's own origination!

Haiku crossroads freely allows people to showcase their valid interests related to the world of haiku and it's broader context. Gabi Greves, for one, is all over this new and excitingly informative haiku (et al) news site - like a frog in a pond.
(YOU drag me into this muddy pond, I never asked to be there.)

No worries about this whatsoever.
The ethos of haiku crossroads is on the tin :
"A new experimental page to see if we can generate a centralising web of haiku interconnectivity for haiku fans here on Facebook. An information exchange."

- MY original post was to share and compare two ku.
One which the Daruma kid had done and my own snappy response.

The fuzzy pic of that rock with a paw sticking out was over the 'shiver' senryu, which was the caption to the pic in question.

My senryu (in the spirit of free form rengay) was a good enough response - maybe better at making the point of confronting a silent holy stone in a sensitive frame of mind. Judge for yourselves :

talk to me ...
your silence makes me
shiver
— Gabi Greve


how so
so speechless
rock?
— jp

Not bad (SHOW not tell.)

- When Gabi Greve asked me to remove this post I did (albeit baffled).
(I never asked you to remove the post,
I stated I was the owner of the stone photo you had used as if it was your own.

((I just found the message I posted on facebook
To John Potts,
I took this photo myself and it should not be copied elsewhere without the quote of the author and the link given above.
source : facebook ))

To this you replied in your own logic, that
the stone belongs to the Koya monastery !

and then
you deleted it all by your own free will.
. . . . . and you wrote
No, the whole concept of my post was upgraded, Gabi Greve - once I found the time in my busy schedule : Much improved, thanks for the inspiration old gal!)


Sorted? Not at all.
it appeared to be a wonderful opportunity for creatures from under every haiku stone in haiku Cyberia to slither themselves into the twilight in some sort of a crazed zombie feeding frenzy! ^_^

However, as with all pseuds, as soon as they are confronted by the real deal they scurry off back down their rabbit holes again - shivering no doubt.
The ones that remain gradually melting away under the heat of my polite (but relentless) clarity of technical wizardry and superb rengay rebukes.

The true haiku lovers watch from a distance and wonder at the foibles of folks - it's what I would do myself if it were not my responsibility here to filter the sewage. We must not let the well get dirty - can you dig it?

CHECK OUT THE SOURCE HERE (allow for editorial deletions though - by the owner) :
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=718216843&v=wall&story_fbid=125114144176254#!/profile.php?id=718216843&v=app_2347471856

- Any questions? Ask them on this unmoderated thread.......

As for my own bona fide position in the scheme of haiku (et al) things (which many are curious about,) all I can honestly say is.. there's only one way to find out, peeps!

That's right - suck it and see.
Innit.
Finally, this.
I have no time for fools nor their illusions.
Anyone who houses the clear, bright spirit of haiku in their hearts, unfaithful to no other gods nor demons, will understand this.

And the rest?
Sooth, let the devil take the hindmost :D
— jp
facebook : Storm in a thimble of dust


.................................................................................



a friend replied

Unless you are a master of self-delusion, Mr. Potts, even you must know that you are going to fool no-one with this kind of nonsense.
Dr. Greve did NOT misrepresent the facts.
You ask what you have to apologise for. How about:

Copyright theft
Plagiarism
Insulting a respected member of the international haiku community
Insulting the work which you stole

Perhaps you have still have a small window whereby you can save your reputation being permanently sullied, but it's closing fast. Make no mistake, your name will be remembered, but not quite the way you seem to have hoped.


JP then quotes his entry in another haiku forum

"Get a grip on the real world, Alice - all these fantasies will make you sick."
Alice's mother insisted, as she reached into the medicine cabinet for the largactyl syrup. "Now, open your eyes and close your mouth."

in a childs picture book
nobody ever ever dares to
replicate
source : cherrypoetryclub ·May 29, 2010



and another friend said

Why do you enjoy being nasty? It would have been so easy to say "sorry" to Gabi. We all make mistakes at times. We apologize, and people easily forgive us our missteps.
Why are you doing all that for yourself? People will only dislike you more. Are you an enemy collector?



JP then educates us about
In Wikipedia they have an interesting caveat for the authors of submissions :
wikipedia : weasle words


and the ten haiku commandments
first
haiku crossroads : Thou shalt not steal ?


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"Dear Gabi, I am totally on your side in this issue: stealing intellectual property, which is your photo, is a crime, does not matter if it is done in internet. And what is most striking, is that John Potts doesn't even understand or ashamed of what he has done, thus giving a bad example to others that it is OK to steal somebody else's creation. Yes, the stone belongs to a monastery, but the picture you took belongs to you and that is so obvious and needs no other proof.
It will be a good idea to start a lawsuit against Haiku Crossroads creator and to prove that he is totally WRONG.
John Potts you are dishonest person. "


Dear Gabi san,
You are a respected name the world over. One should not be rude or impolite in any way to promoting oneself by 'using' your work without your knowledge or permission. I fully support K. in defence of your intellectual property right. I also condemn Pott's audacity to argue with K. on something which is blatantly wrong.
A.



Gabi,
I saw all that and can't believe this man writes haiku. It seems to me that haiku is more than the words we write, but also our approach to life and he lost the plot.
P.



Since I have Japanese women in my family and know them to be gracious and beautiful in spirit. It's unthinkable that someone would speak to Gabi with such brutal crassness and disrespect.


so sorry to hear this mr potts calling the kettle black


It is the attitude of the offender that is the most upsetting.
We are all happy to have our work used - all we ask is for proper acknowledgement.




"My best wishes to you, Gabi. The work you do comes from the heart and everybody who knows you appreciates and respects this. Love is the strongest energy there is and nothing can harm it."


"Sadly, this isn't the first time we've seen unprincipled behavior in the haiku world. Thanks to the internet, however, news like this can travel very fast. Before long, Mr. Potts' name will be mud, and the haiku community will have rallied behind one of its own."



Dear Gabi,
I'm really sorry about your terrible experience on Facebook.
I have heard of other experiences on Facebook of such plagiarism and wonder if it is a worthwhile place for posting work.
My sympathy, S. B.



Dear Gabi sensei,
I am so sorry to learn of your encounter with this rude plagiarist and I hasten to send you a word of encouragement. I find John Potts ( If that is his real name ) too macho to admit that he is wrong and from his insensitive language, I presume he is a recidivist.
I complement you for assertively writing to him several times despite those annoying and disrespectful replies you received in return and for not allowing yourself to be riled by his senseless remarks. I know that you have too much grit to let a thing like this unduly depress you.
The fact that you've written haiku about this whole thing, to me, is a show of great courage and resilience. I am inspired.
... C


.................................................................................



"Folks, freeze this bloke out.
He's getting sunshine from the attention. Really. Just leave him there with his dropped pies."
K.


I agree with K. ! !!!
not worth any more efforts on our side.
Just ignore him.
This is the sad side of online communication....
Gabi


I bow to you both, K. and Gabi,
for your kind and gentle nature
and will bring end to this on my part as long as he leaves my friends alone.


. . . . .


I think the best thing to do in dealing with such a rude, insensitve, fraudulent boor, is to ignore him. We're giving him the validation he so badly needs (his, "Well said, man" proves that) . The problem is, he'll keep violating us until we put a stop to it.
He did it to me and to Gabi ... who's next?
JD


.................................................................................



I hope you don't mind, Gabi,
I am adding the link to your blog to my FaceBook page in my status today.

" Due to the misbehavior of John Potts at Haiku Crossroads, there has been an ongoing discussion of copyright infringement. As would be expected, Mr. Potts has altered the discussion by removing posts. "

For those of you who may have hit the 'like' button at Mr Potts' Haiku Crossroads site:

'Like' may be removed by going to the lower left hand corner and pinging 'unlike.' This may result in your not being able to make comments. I do not know as I will be making no further posts on Haiku Crossroads.

I posted an objection to his unauthorized alteration and use of a verse of mine which Mr. Potts has deleted along with any other posts that cast him in an unfavorable light.

I considered deleting ALL of my posts on Haiku Crossroads but was advised not to.

I have un-friended Mr. Potts and blocked him.
I would suggest that others do the same, particularly those of you who write haiku.

source : K


.................................................................................


dear gabi
i'm so sorry for the abuse you've taken from a so-called haiku poet.i mentioned such on my face book page. tho i had to change 'trash talk' by him to 'demeaned' to get thru a security check.
my feeling is he should take his eggs and go home.
your friend marlene

Marlene Mountain on facebook about this problem


.................................................................................



"John Pott's Haiku Crossroads is a winner, folks,
edited by a truly original voice."
— Robert D. Wilson
facebook : Haiku Crossroads


I didn't understand what JP had done until Reading an e-mail from Gabi San. please accept my apologies. Using someone else's photography without permission than being flippant with Gabi who has unselfishly given so much to all of us is an insult to the haiku path.
Sometimes I speak before I think.
Humbly,
Robert D. Wilson"


I just published this on JP's site: John, using Gabi's personal property without her permission than chastening her publically for objecting to what you did was rude and disrespectful. Imagine if someone used your car without your permission. Gabi is not full of herself but a humble human being who has mentored many and given much to the haiku ... See moreworld without fanfare or charging money. the haiku path is not a cartoon or a world wrestling federation wrestling bout. It's one of humility, respect, and an emptying of self. I defended you impulsively not knowing the gist of the debate.

I publically asked for forgiveness to Gabi and others, and I hope you will too.
I say this to you out of love and not from disrespect. The harsh words exchanged from both sides were often mean, the antithesis of haiku nature. I too can be flippant and offend people, and regreatfully have. And I know what it's like to have someone steal something of mine behind my back.
RW
... Facebook

Robert, your apologies are accepted.
Now
Try to get JP to delete the comments he quoted from you!


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


a rose
with many wormholes ...
haiku life


. The story goes on ...

Rose and worms on my facebook page



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The evidence is gone, deleted, not here any more.
So there is no way to make any official complaint.

But I do not think we can blame facebook or
the internet for the character of people,
even of self-claimed haiku poets.





No Sucess with all this, BUT as a friend put it

Although he has not apologised,
John Potts has earned for himself a reputation as a fraud and an ignoramus which will likely stick with him for a very long time.



Now I will stop reporting this case,
the rest is on facebook and in the comments below.


do not feed
this mud-trowing troll -
END of summer





You can BLOCK a person at facebook so he will not be able to read your pages any more, not steal your ideas, at least that is what they say.
A certain cockoos nest with blue eggs is now BLOCKED from my facebook.

. Gabi on Facebook 　



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. . . Read my Haiku Archives

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moonlight

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moonlight
on the temple roof -
and silence



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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2009


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shadows and silence

a long silence between your words - autumn deepens

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green color code #767c6b "color of mountain doves"
山鳩色 (やまばといろ)




The trees, the flowers, the plants grow in silence.
The stars, the sun, the moon move in silence.
Silence gives us a new perspective.

Mother Teresa



autumn sunshine -
the sound of this shadow
on the wall


the sound of these
leaves on the temple wall -
autumn solitude






Thanks to Mother Teresa!


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A friend asked:
why not drop 'these' from L1 and move 'leaves" into it's place?

Well, here is my answer:

the sound of leaves
on the temple wall -
autumn solitude


the sound of these
leaves on the temple wall -
autumn solitude


Maybe you feel the difference yourself?

The sound of leaves, the sound of water ... quite a well used phrase in haiku ...
:o) ... maybe overused ...

Since it was not the sound of leaves (or rather maybe branches with leaves, for that matter) hitting the wall, but as is shown in the photo,
it was the sound of shadows, I want the reader to pause
these ... what ? simply leaves? only shadows? anything else ?

these leaves ... I can hear these leaves rustle in the wind, as the tree stands if front of the wall

leaves on the temple wall ... now they are only shadows, not the sound ...


So I choose the version I did.
HH


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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2009


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moonlight

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moonlight reflected
on the camellia leaves -
and silence


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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2009


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Hanga Calendar 2008

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What a surprize!
Someone unknown to me
had used my haiku in a calendar project !

Thanks, Shirlee Funk !

heavy snowfall - a white silence deepens

CLICK for enlargement!




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HERE
my photo and another haiga of this haiku

雪しきり白き静寂や深くなり
Gabi Greve, Haiku 2005



. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2009


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spring silence

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the silence
of a spring day -
and all these sounds


all these sounds
in the silence
of a spring day


in the silence
of a spring day
all these sounds


the silence
of a spring day . . .
these sounds




illustration from ode magazine 2008

Silence can be a source of healing,
a refuge from the stress of modern life,
a pathway to enlightenment.
Or it can have a more sinister meaning.
source and more : www.odemagazine.com


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MORE
My SILENCE haiku



Comment from a friend
Puzzling, Gabi
I guess it's one of those zenny ones.
No, I think I know what you mean... that when it's silent enough, one can hear small sounds that were undetectable before? Silence is relative?
Love that illustration you found!
HH



. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2009


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the renku pond

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silence ...
another frog in the
renku pond



This was inspired by friends writing renku in the HH.







Here is the full sequence, which evolved spontaneously
over night with
lmp (Linda Papanicolaou), moi (Moira Richards), _k (Kala Ramesh)
and ke (Kathy Earsman)




silence ...
another frog in the
renku pond / Gabi

spring breeze in the roof thatch
of the hermitage / lmp

all packed
for the pilgrimage
paper, brush, saijiki /moi

falling into the space between
the stepping stone / _k

moonlight gathers
in the mist where trees
used to be /ke

one last cricket singing
in the gecko cage / lmp





Thank you very much, dear friends,
for this precious gift.

Gabi, March 2009


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. Shrine Sakaori no Miya 酒折宮 　
and Yamato Takeru 日本武尊, first Deity of Renku



Renku, renga, haikai, linked verse . . . Theory 連句, 連歌、俳諧


. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2009

HH
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dreaming room

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間　-　間　-　間



dreaming room ...
a new buzzword
for the old MA

click on the haiku to find out more ...

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as I sit in my dining room
wondering about the dreaming room
he calls from the living room



I do not approve of this word and do not consider it a translation of MA, but never mind.
For me, haiku is about reality and what I experience in the moment, not in a dream.

The word reminds me of the Australian aborigines "dream time, dreamtime", but that is a different matter alltogether, I find.




and one who can not keep his MA in Japanese culture is a

manuke　間抜け "one without a ma feeling"
a fool, an idiot, a blockhead, someone stupid . . .


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Assimilation of the Ma Aesthetic Better Equips Western Poets
to Write Haiku
by Denis M. Garrison

Amongst traditional Japanese aesthetic considerations applicable to the art of haiku writing, ma is arguably preeminent for poets working in another language, for whom much of the treasury of haiku allusions is not available. It is, of course, axiomatic that the better a poet assimilates the full panoply of traditional haiku aesthetics, the better equipped he or she will become; but for non-Japanese poets, ma has special value, I think.

What is ma?
Literally, ma is the sense of time and space, incorporating between, space, room, interval, pause, time, timing, passing, distanced, etc. More particularly, ma may be taken as the timing of space, as in the duration between two musical notes. Silence is valued as well as sound. It is said that the ma aesthetic is influential upon all varieties of Japanese art.

I am not an expert on Japanese traditional aesthetics, in general, nor in ma, specifically. It is not my intent to dissect nor analyze ma in its native context.

Read it all HERE

　© Denis M. Garrison / Simply Haiku Winter 2008


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the MA ...
could we be silent about
something else?


the MA ...
are we silent about
different things?


I just had a moment of silence with my cat HAIKU and he seemed to ... well ...
January 23, 2009

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shichi go choo and Kabuki 七五調


quote
"There is nothing like a ma!"

What is ma? Well, that's not so easy to explain but without it Kabuki wouldn't be half so interesting as it is. Imagine, for example, this speech that everybody knows -

"To be or not to be?"
(Dramatic pause)
"That is the question."

In Kabuki that pause would be called a ma, and ma are tension filled moments applicable to acting movements, dance, or speech. The internal psychology of a moment is expressed by the actor, who holds the attention of the audience in a pregnant pause that creates tension and emphasis.

Similar to the above example, ma may be expressed in speeches as the tension between the lines of shichi-go-chô - the division into lines of seven and five syllables used in much Japanese poetry. Look at the following example: in order to make things clear I have divided this haiku poem by the playwright and critic, Kawajiri Seitan (川尻清潭) into syllables -

Yo-za-ku-ra-ya (5) Evening cherry blossoms
Ma-ta Su-ke-ro-ku no (7) And once again
Ke-n-ka-za-ta (5) Sukeroku fights

Here one could imagine a dramatic ma pause after Mata Sukeroku no, before completing the poem. Similarly, when the thief Benten Kozō abandons his disguise as a young girl and reveals his name, (Benten musume meo no shiranami - "Benten the Male, Female Bandit") he dramatically lengthens the last syllable of Kozō before speaking the final part of his name - Kikunosuke. An actor with a poor sense of ma might well leave too short a pause and so any feeling of suspense before the completion would be lost.
Although Western poetry does not use shichi-go-chô (partly because Western languages do not have the consonant-vowel parings which make up the Japanese language), dramatic pausing between the lines can sometimes be equally important but perhaps less stylised than in Kabuki.

In movement, mie stop-motion poses demonstrate the most exciting examples of ma. Probably deriving from the fearsome iconography and facial expressions seen on some Buddhist statuary, mie are powerful poses by male characters that serve to emphasize moments of great import or tension. As the action stops, the character assumes a dramatic pose, revolves his head back and to one side and then, snapping the head into position, crosses one eye over the other and glares at his opponent. Mie are usually accompanied by two clear beats of the tsuke wooden blocks. It is the dramatic pause before the winding up and final snap of the head, between the first beat of the block and the second, which is an example of a ma of action.

Mie are unique to Kabuki and there is certainly nothing like them in Western theatre. Dramatic pauses are, therefore, more naturalistic and we find such pauses in Kabuki too. Let's look at the following fantastic example of ma which I will always remember. It was from Nakamura Utaemon VI's performance of Masaoka from Meiboku Sendai Hagi. Masaoka moves to the hanamichi in order to watch Sakae Gozen depart. Having just watched her son being murdered, Masaoka is desperate to run to his body. Watching her leave, Utaemon held the pose with extraordinary tension until, Sakae now gone, he collapsed in anguish. A master actor holding the audience in his hands!

Although we may not have a specific name for them, ma pauses are very important not only to Western theatre but in music too. My son, Misha, who is not a musician, was watching a very famous American conductor, conducting Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," one of the greatest and most influential works of the twentieth century. The final section, the "Sacrificial Dance," is clearly divided into sections by very dramatic pauses. Every one of those fantastic pauses was cut far too short by the conductor, and all the drama was lost as the music flowed along to greatly reduced effect.

"That conductor is useless!" said Misha, and, judging by this example of very bad ma, I really had to agree. In Japan - particularly in the field of Kabuki - one would say his "ma ga warui" - his "ma is bad," meaning he has no sense of timing.

source : Ronald Cavaye - kabuki-bito.jp


. Sukeroku 助六 - Hero of Edo .




どーも　間が悪い　ma ga warui

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rain again

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tsuyu sanaka, in the middle of the rainy season



rainy season ...
dark coulds huddle
below light clouds



rainy season ...
the green of the forest
deepens



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Here are a couple to add, Gabi.


as if silence
were enough . . .
the monsoon!




a groaning in the
jungle, that dragon
made of water

robert d. wilson



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. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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silent night

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dark night ... a firefly flies over my roof two days later dark night ... three fireflies brighten my valley again two days later silent night ... the delicate shimmer of fireflies

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At first I was tempted to write ... a silent night
to make sure it was not THE Silent Night ... spelled mostly with capital S and N.

It is like a Christmas present to see these thousands of fireflies in the remote valley in complete silence, up and down, back and forth ... and we can enjoy it for about two, three weeks if there is no rain at night ..




. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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graves in silence

morning prayers - the graves of the ancestors in deep silence

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My Haiku Friend Allison wrote

The only thing that caught my eye and took it away from the graves is the slightly yellow 'thing' to the left of the main tree, by the driveway. I don't know what it is, but if you cloned it out, it wouldn't be there to distract me. I know it's a 'little thing', but I really want to focus on the headstones . . . and the rest of your photo (with the gorgeous lighting) pulls my focus right where it belongs.

So she made this lovely haiga for me !

Dear Allison,
thanks for your great effort.

It looks terrific and it made me think ...

I try to write haiku about WHAT IS without judgement and my photos show WHAT IS without interference and retouching (is that the right word?)

Japanese landscape is full of wires and electricity poles and all that, just this morning (speak of coincidence) was an article in the Japan times about
UGLY JAPAN (see below)

When I take our landscape photos, I try to avoid these wires and poles, but sometimes it just can not be done ... so I guess it my modern haiku reality to live with them.

If I write normal poetry and paint a landscape, I am free to transform it as I please, but with my haiku, there is a difference.
I hang on to external and internal shasei, sketching from nature and the inspiration of moment.

Thanks for bringing this home once again.
And thanks for showing the "joys and dangers" of interferring with a photo.
What is reality? quite a question now for me !


morning prayers ..
the fence poles and the graves
in deep silence


GABI

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©　Japan Times, KEVIN RAFFERTY, Feb.28, 2008

Why's Japan grown so ugly?
By KEVIN RAFFERTY

YUNOMINE, Wakayama Pref. —
My brother wanted to create a new room in the loft of his house in an English provincial city, actually Kingston upon Hull (population 250,000), a place of passing interest to Japanese because two centuries ago it was one of the world's biggest whaling ports. Today, the whales are still present, singing their haunting songs in a museum to the city's maritime history.

The local council refused him permission because the room would have required the insertion of a new window, and that would have ruined the uniform roofline of the avenue where he lives.

I was thinking of this when traveling recently from Osaka to the onsen town of Yunomine, an exhilarating journey along through the mountains of the Kii Peninsula. This is Japan's historic heartland, where the gods had their origins, and these routes have been a place of pilgrimage for a thousand years, through which people have sought self-discovery, purification and healing.

Winter had laid its icy fingers across the land, and the green hillsides were liberally dusted with snow. From time to time we diced with the ice on the narrow old Kumano road and we made several detours on foot along the ancient Kumano way, which meanders up and down the uneven contours of the hills.

But the journey was spoiled by the dreadful depredations that human beings have visited on a beautiful land. Even on the ancient footpath, it is hard to get away from the despoliation of modern life, with the natural shades of green sliced up by silver wires held together by the ugly modern gods of electricity pylons.

On the old road, carefully engineered to follow the twists and turns of the contours of the natural environment, the encroachment of what is termed civilization comes threateningly closer. In places it is hard to hear the birds and insects, let alone the gurgling of mountain streams or the sounds of the wind talking to the grass and trees, above the roar of traffic on the modern road.

That road — and more so the toll roads that go directly through from Osaka to Kumano — shows the contempt that modern Japanese bureaucrats, and their political and corporate construction allies, have for the natural environment. They have bulldozed remorselessly across the countryside and gouged deep wounds through the hills. Where nature has hit back with the threat of landslides, the construction companies have tried to suffocate it by plastering hillsides with concrete.

Alex Kerr in "Dogs and Demons" (2001) documented the grip of the deadly concrete disease on Japan, with 97 percent of rivers dammed and 60 percent of the coastline covered in concrete, not to speak of 43 percent of native forests replanted with allergy-bearing and wildlife-free cedar plantations.

Where is the traditional Japanese love of nature, beauty, gentleness, nuance? All damned and dammed with concrete.

But it gets worse as you venture into remote rural areas, which in other countries offer a refuge from the pressures of hectic modern life. Kerr complained of Japan's "Hello-Kitty-fied" culture. Hello Kitty has a cuteness, but Japan's rural life is plain plug ugly. In every small town, ugliness is rampant: bright signs with mindless slogans; garish advertisements for pachinko parlors; giant banners for used cars; loud screaming posters for every tin-pot business; and of course wires everywhere, as if the spiders are taking over.

Try to take a photograph of what should be a picturesque place. You find wires everywhere, of course: at high and low level, from afar or close to, every view is spoiled. Tasteful traditional wooden houses sit next to tasteless modern monstrosities; exposed metal and plastic pipes scar the scene, some of them leaking; everyone and anyone can put up a banner; concrete is ubiquitous, some of it masquerading as wood; and ugly robotic machines parade the main street dispensing cigarettes or soft drinks. Shops sell over-wrapped over-priced tacky souvenirs (but no bath salts that I could see).

Anyone who has been to Kyoto or Nara or on the road between them is assaulted by the horrors of Japanese town planning.
What is worse is how ugliness has penetrated Japan's historic heartland, and no one seems to care.

Mikako Hayashi, associate professor of restorative dentistry and endodontology at Osaka University, remembers her return to Japan after 16 months doing research at England's Manchester University and exploring the historic spots there. She says: "As the aircraft banked on its final approach, I looked out of the window to see the countryside of my homeland — and it looked as if some demon giant had tipped a huge garbage can over the landscape."

This is surely an appalling thing to say about a country whose people have traditionally taken great pride in being in harmony with nature. But Hayashi believes that there is no point merely in lamenting modern ugliness; she suggests that it is time to do something about it.

In England there is a keenly fought annual competition for the Best Kept Village. It is time for Japan to do something similar, Hayashi suggests: "Japan should be more ambitious: choose the prettiest or most picturesque village and town. Give points for a pleasant skyline, for special features, for good taste or neatness according to a scale: deduct points, say five points off for offensive advertising, 20 points off for a pachinko parlor on main street, 30 or more for ugly buildings that do not blend."

She is being too ambitious. If such a competition were held today on such a basis, the winner would probably be a place with a score of minus several hundred.

You do not have to go all the way of Britain, where one department of a London council insisted that a diseased cherry tree must be chopped down, but another said if it were cut the owner would be fined for altering the skyline.

Hayashi's idea would help develop tourism, both domestic and foreign, and — in a small but important way — teach Japanese to value their precious land and environment. Newly attractive towns and villages may be able to attract back people and jobs. Smothering the land in concrete wastes money and kills ideas, ideals and beauty. Eventually, maybe, the vital message can filter through from the ordinary people of Japan back to the ishiatama bureaucrats and politicians.



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More of my SNOW HAIKU

SNOW in Paradise



　Internal shasei ...
Environment and emotion: keijo (keijoo 景情 けいじょう)



. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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Salt and Happiness

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Salt and Happiness

An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.

"How does it taste?" the master asked.

"Bitter," spit the apprentice.

The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake, and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake."

As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the master asked, "How does it taste?"

"Fresh," remarked the apprentice.

"Do you taste the salt?" asked the master.

"No," said the young man.

At this, the master sat beside this serious young man who so reminded him of himself and took his hands, offering, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. . . .

Stop being a glass. Become a lake."

Mark Nepo in

The Book of Awakening




Salt Lake

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a glass of water
a glass of salt
a glass of haiku



READ
. . . more of my QUOTES


. . . Read my Haiku Archives 2008


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First Snow Roses

初雪や first snow ! the silence of my roses deepens

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Roses and Clouds, December 26 !!!



Read my Haiku Archives 2007

rose snow
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First Snow

first snow ! the silence deepens

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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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Temple Tanjo-Ji

autumn deepens - the unfettered beauty of this Amida temple autumn deepens - the beauty of prayer in stone DRAGON BRANCHES Amida Buddha

LOOK
Temple Tanjo-Ji, ALBUM November 2007

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Temple Tanjo-Ji in my neighbourhood
Temple Tanjo-Ji in Okayama
Saint Honen was born here !


Saint Honen, born at this temple ..
by Gabi Greve


Joodo Paradise where we meet again ..


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***** pickled radish, takuanzuke 沢庵漬
kigo for all winter

..... Takuan was a famous Zen Priest, who invented this dish. It is very popular. Zen monks are supposed to eat their slices of Takuan radish without making any noise. There are usually two slices on the plate, used to carefully clear out the bolws afer eating and then munching the Takuan in silence.
If you want to know the secret of eating Takuan in silence, contact me :o) !

The Unfettered Mind. by Takuan Soho



Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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River Crossing

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女一人僧一人雪の渡し哉
onna hitori soo hitori yuki no watashi kana

one woman
one monk - river crossing
in the snow

Naitoo Meisetsu 内藤鳴雪
Tr. Gabi Greve



This reminds me of the Zen story

Monk carrying Woman across the River

Two traveling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed.

As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out.
"Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!"

"Brother," the second monk replied,
"I set her down on the other side,
while you are still carrying her."

Zen Stories


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From a discussion about haiku


a friend remarked :

..... the 'form/ technique' are the banks
that allow the river to flow.
The river could be the poem/ the creation/ the spirit.


Gabi wrote

I like the image of a river, that whirls and swirls ...
but in the end, if it looses its "banks",
ends up in the ocean of "short form poetry".



And we exchanged some quotes:



Creativity is the art of taking a fresh look at old knowledge

John E. Arnold





No man ever steps in the same river twice,
for it's not the same river
and he's not the same man.

Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – c. 475 BCE)


. Joys of Japan - 2012 .


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. Koan and Haiku 公案と俳句 .


Read more of my Musings about ZEN and Haiku


Read my Haiku Archives


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Sea of clouds

sea of clouds - just looking out of my window autumn morning - the splendid silence of your smile

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Read my Haiku Archives 2007


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