Haiku revisited

Haiku, originally uploaded by Eremita.

A couple of months (or years?) ago i was very interested in Haiku, those japanese mystic short poems. It's not that i didn't read lots of Haiku-related stuff (Bashos "Narrow road" e.g.) but i didn't write haiku till a couple of weeks ago.
Lots of people think that a haiku has 5-7-5 sillables and thats about it. But that isn't true.
Haiku have 5-7-5 _japanese_ sillables, translating them into english, german or [language of your choice] often result kind of different when the 5-7-5 form is used with sillables in the corresponding language. But it is good, for a beginner, to train the 5-7-5 form, so you one day can "feel" if its a haiku or not.
A Haiku also needs a connection to nature, BeOS error messages therefor are not really haiku ;-) (but i still like the idea). Another rule is the kigo, a word that shows at which season the haiku is set. That can be pretty obvious, like "snow" or somehow more subtile, with "long shadows" or something like that. A Haiku should also be authentic, it should capture a real moment outside of you.
But the most important rule (imho, i'm a very, very beginning author) is that a haiku shouldn't be complete as it is written. It should be completed by reading, i.e. not what a haiku says is important but what it doesn't.

Maybe i try writing some haiku in english over the next weeks, lets see :-)

May All Beings be Free of Sorrow

May All Beings be Free of Sorrow, originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

And may they be free of reed, aversion, delusion, ignorance and craving .

Shobogenzo revisited

It must have been more than a year when i started reading Dogen Zenjis Shobogenzo. Here in Germany there is a expensive but great translation available with lots of commentary. The translation is still not finished, the start dating back to 2001. The whole edition ist splitted in 4 books, with number 4 coming this autumn.

Right now i read book 2, and, like book 1, i find it extremely difficult to read. Maybe without lots of practice you can't even realize everything Dogen is talking about, so i hope i can increase my efforts in meditation. But the things you can understand with your monkey mind are also impressive. He uses lots of complex methods to visualize the dharma. Not without reason this masterpiece may be the most important book of soto zen and buddhism itself.

There is also a free english translation available at the Soto Zen Text Project, but it is far from complete.

Ants Test Nonviolence of Buddhist Monks

Some may laugh about this story, but i think to act like this shows an awakened mind. No one said right living would be easy :-)

monk in courtyard

monk in courtyard, originally uploaded by Mr. Mark.

Buddhism and Science

Because of a very interesting Article at the great green clouds blog, concerning an article from Time Magazine, i was reminded of my own personal interest in the common ground of buddhism and science. Here are some more or less useful links to that topic:

Toward a Buddhist Philosophy of Science

Buddhism and Science - A Conversation

Buddhism and science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice -- Lutz et al. 101 (46): 16369 -- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Seed: What Buddhism Offers Science

Buddhism and Science

Hope it is interesting for you as well.

Prayer

Prayer II, originally uploaded by Sara Heinrichs (awfulsara).

Trying to improve my practice

It's not that i don't meditate. I'm doing it even regular. But not as long (~15-20 mins) and regular (3-4 times week) as it should be. Working the whole day (plus a pretty long way home) its really hard (for me) to sit down, relax and take the time you need to watch your breath and cultivate your awareness. Of course, it always depends on your current state of mind. One day i have to start three times to be able to enter some kind of samadhi, the other day my practice appears to be good from the moment i sit down and find the correct posture.
One thing i like about meditation is the possibility to train your abilities. I sometimes compare it with strumming my old guitar or playing soccer. Even if you haven't done it in a long time, you don't forget everything. Like a sport you maybe need a couple of days to be back on top of the game, but you never have to start from the beginning again. At least i feel it that way.

Sitting down at the pond

Have a cup of tea, sit beside this still water and watch the big frogs over there.