Monday, March 9, 2015

Carpe Diem Special #136, Santoka Taneda's "there is Buddha"


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you all know this month we have Santoka Taneda (1882-1940) as our featured haiku poet and I think you remember our last Haiku Writing Techniques episode "free style" and that's what we are going to do again with this CD-Special.

Santoka Taneda (or Taneda Santoka, both ways are used) wrote a lot of haiku, not only as we know them, but he also wrote several haiku with the "sound of Zen" in it and our CD-Special of today is such a haiku with the "sound of Zen":

in the ceaseless sound
of the water
there is Buddha


© Santoka Taneda

Credits: brook
I think this haiku is a true Zen haiku and it's full of the "sound of Zen" in my opinion and not only based on the name of Buddha in it ... the sound of the water ... always there ... without taking a pause. Even in winter you can hear the sound of water when it's frozen ...
Haiku poets are one with nature and as you all know Buddha was one with nature too ... so that makes us all Buddha ...

The goal of this CD-Special is to write/compose an all new haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one given ... and because Santoka Taneda was a fore stander of the 'free-style' haiku you don't need to count syllables or use kigo or one of the other "classical rules" of haiku. Maybe that makes it easier, but I am not sure of that.

Here is my attempt:

drip, drip
the sound of water
kitchen sink


© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and it will remain open until March 12th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, a new Haiku Writing Techniques, later on. For now .... have fun!
!! PS. I am hopelessly behind with commenting. I hope to catch up a.s.a.p. !!! 

3 comments:

  1. drip, drip fits well within my home because to keep my pipes from freezing in the frigid winter, I've had to keep a faucet drip, dripping whenever the temperature is below freezing.

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  2. This prompt confuses me a little: we just did a post on water, and its silence of sound, so mine is probably not quite spot on today.

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  3. I'm not sure how "zen" I'd be with a dripping faucet...lol.

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