A ZEN STORY

Two monks Tanzan and Ekido were travelling along a very muddy road in heavy rain, when they met a lovely young girl dressed in a beautiful silk kimono. She was standing, uncertain what to do, for at that point the mud was particularly messy.

Tanzan immediately stepped forward, lifted her up in his arms and carried her on to a spot where the ground was less muddy.

Later, when the two monks had reached their destination, Ekido, who had been very quiet during the final stages of their journey, spoke up. “Tanzan,” he said, “We monks aren’t allowed to have any physical contact with females. I can’t understand what you did today.”

Tanzan replied, “I left the girl back there. Are you still carrying her?”

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Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close-bosom friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, Later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimmed their clammy cells.

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(If an advert appears on the screen, click on the small cross on the right to remove it)


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The flower painting is No5 in the series by Joy Shaylor
“Autumn Woods” was painted by Albert Bierstadt
The poem is taken from “To Autumn” by John Keats
The music for the video “Autumn” is “La petite fille de la mer” by Vangelis who wrote the film scores for Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner

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FRIDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER

Thanks to FreeFoto.com

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. (Dogen 1200-1253)

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Painted by Theodore Rousseau 1812-1867

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THINKING ABOUT NATURE

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. (John Muir)

Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard. (Standing Bear who was a Ponca Native American chief)

Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. (Kahlil Gibran)

The poetry of the earth is never dead. (John Keats)

The human spirit needs places where nature has not been re-arranged by the hand of man. (Anon)

To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment. (Jane Austen)

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. (Lao-Tzu)

I can enjoy society in a room; but out-of-doors nature is company enough for me. (William Hazlitt)

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This week EIGHTY PLUS includes “Tam O’Shanter and the Witches” and a video clip of Barbara Dickson singing “The Skye Boat Song”
http://80plus.blogspot.com

This week at HAIKU HOMESTEAD - “Caterpillars and Butterflies” plus the 5-7-5 rule, Yes or No?
http://haikuhomestead.blogspot.com

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FRIDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER

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Some Taoist sayings -

Intelligent people know others,
Enlightened people know themselves.

You can conquer others with power,
But it takes true strength to conquer yourself.

When people see beauty, they think - that’s beautiful!
Thinking of something as being beautiful makes you think other things are ugly.
Calling something “good” forces you to call some other things “bad.”

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This is Flower Painting No4 by Joy Shaylor


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THE OLD WORKMAN

“Why are you so bent down before your time,
Old mason? Many have not left their prime
So far behind at your age, and can still
Stand full upright at will.”

He pointed to the mansion-front hard by,
And to the stones of the quoin against the sky;
“Those upper blocks,” he said, “that there you see,
It was that ruined me.”

There stood in the air up to the parapet
Crowning the corner height, the stones as set
By him - ashlar whereon the gales might drum
For centuries to come.

“I carried them up,” he said, “by a ladder there;
The last was as big a load as I could bear;
But on I heaved; and something in my back
Moved, as ‘twere with a crack.

“So I got crookt. I never lost that sprain;
And those who live there, walled from wind and rain
By freestone that I lifted, do not know
That my life’s ache came so.

“They don’t know me, or even know my name,
But good I think it, somehow, all the same
To have kept ‘em safe from harm, and right and tight,
Though it has broke me quite.

“Yes; that I fixed it firm up there I am proud,
Facing the hail and snow and sun and cloud,
And to stand storms for ages, beating round
When I lie underground.” (Thomas Hardy 1840-1928)

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"The Grand Canal, Venice" by Canaletto (1697-1768)

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I was very pleased with the Haiku Homestead blog which I re-started last week.

The theme of today’s posting is Autumn and I give some interesting answers to the question “What exactly is a haiku?”

http://haikuhomestead.blogspot.com

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Finally, a recording of the Londonderry Air played by Nigel Kennedy.



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FRIDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER

Look in the perfume of flowers and of nature for peace of mind and joy of life. (Wang Wei 701-circa 761 AD, Chinese painter, poet and musician)

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This is the 3rd of Joy Shaylor’s flower paintings



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SOLITUDE

Two poems by Wang Wei

My Retreat at Mount ZhongNan

In middle life I became immersed
In the philosophy of Tao.
Later I went to live
At the foot of South Mountain.
When I am happy I walk alone in the hills.

I know within my heart
What is good and which is beautiful.
When I arrive at the source of the stream
I sit down to rest and to watch the mists rising.
Sometimes I need a time-worn woodcutter,
Talking and laughing together,
We forget it is time to go home!


In a Retreat among Bamboos

Leaning alone in the close bamboos,
I am playing my lute and humming a song
Too softly for anyone to hear,
Except my comrade, the bright moon.

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This is by the Russian painter Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi (1842-1910)



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A ZEN STORY

Twenty monks and one young nun were practising meditation under a famous Zen Master.

The nun was very beautiful and before long many of the monks had secretly fallen in love with her. Only one of them however showed his feelings, by slipping a love letter to her when nobody was looking.

The next day they were all assembled to hear a lecture from the Master. When it had finished, the nun stood up and, in front of everyone, said to the one who had written to her, “If you really love me, come and embrace me now.”

And the moral of course is - If you love, love openly.

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She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent! (Lord Byron 1788-1824)

The poet was inspired to write this by the beauty of his cousin Mrs Wilmot.

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Many years ago this Chopin piano piece became known as "So Deep is the Night". It's the Etude Op10 No3 in E major “Tristesse” by Chopin, played by the Polish-born American Arthur Rubinstein.



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After a break of three months, my HAIKU HOMESTEAD blog is in operation again. I’ve made some changes to the format and to the style, and you can see it at -

http://haikuhomestead.blogspot.com

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FRIDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER

Rainbows are just to look at, not to understand. (Anon)



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Inside each raindrop swims the sun.
Inside each flower breathes the moon.
Inside me dwell ten million stars,
One for each of my ancestors -
The elk, the raven, the mouse, the man,
The flower, the coyote, the lion, the fish.
Ten million different stars am I,
But only one spirit connecting all. (Nancy Wood)

What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
And loses itself in the sunset. (Crowfoot)


Crowfoot (1830-1890) Chief of the Blackfoot people, Canada

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“Iona” by the Scottish painter Francis Cadell (1883-1937)

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Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay;
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
(Oliver Goldsmith 1730-1774, an extract from The Deserted Village)

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The singer here is Chloe Agnew and the melody comes from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi. The song is “Signore guidami” and the English translation is shown below.


Lord, guide me and tell me what to do,
I’ve seen the love of my life and he has seen me.
I want to tell him that I love him and I hope he’ll say the same.
Life goes by fast, my heart beats strong,
Lord, guide me and grant me peace.
I ask you what to say, how to say it.
Show me how to say I love him,
Show me how to say he loves me,
I’m praying that he’ll say that he loves me.

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