Carpe Diem #1379 Rise of Islam along the Silk Road (final episode February 2018; introductory episode March 2018)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at this (delayed) episode of our beloved Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. As I already told you in an earlier post (yesterday "post delayed") I have decided to combine the last episode of February with the first episode of March. Why? Well in March we will read the Quran together, not as a book of religiosity, but as a book of wisdom. And I can say that the Quran is a wonderful book to read, but there are a lot of similarities with for example The Bible and that "triggered" me to create this special month about the Quran.

As I told you in earlier post last month (February) Islam also was spread along the Silk Road. After Buddhism, Islam beacme the religion of this part of the world. Islam, a very young religion that was "born" in the 7th century CE in Mecca.

Islam along the Silk Road:

The Islamic world was expanded into Central Asia during the 8th century, under the Umayyad Caliphate, while its successor the Abbasid Caliphate put a halt to Chinese westward expansion at the Battle of Talas in 751 (near the Talas River in modern-day Kyrgyzstan). However, following the disastrous An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) and the conquest of the Western Regions by the Tibetan Empire, the Tang Empire was unable to reassert its control over Central Asia. Contemporary Tang authors noted how the dynasty had gone into decline after this point. In 848 the Tang Chinese, led by the commander Zhang Yichao, were only able to reclaim the Hexi Corridor and Dunhuang in Gansu from the Tibetans. The Persian Samanid Empire (819–999) centered in Bukhara (Uzbekistan) continued the trade legacy of the Sogdians. The disruptions of trade were curtailed in that part of the world by the end of the 10th century and conquests of Central Asia by the Turkic Islamic Kara-Khanid Khanate, yet Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Buddhism in Central Asia virtually disappeared.

During the early 13th century Khwarezmia was invaded by the early Mongol Empire. The Mongol ruler Genghis Khan had the once vibrant cities of Bukhara and Samarkand burned to the ground after besieging them.  However, in 1370 Samarkand saw a revival as the capital of the new Timurid Empire. The Turko-Mongol ruler Timur forcefully moved artisans and intellectuals from across Asia to Samarkand, making it one of the most important trade centers and cultural entrepôts of the Islamic world. (Source: Wikipedia)

Somewhere in Mecca ... birthplace of Islam

Now we know a little bit more about how Islam was spread along the Silk Road and how Islam became the religion of Central Asia.

new born
winter has gone
first crocuses bloom

© Chèvrefeuille

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Here starts our new month of CDHK "No human speech can match". This month, March, we will read the Quran, not as a book of religion, but as a book of wisdom. And sometimes I will tell you a little background and sometimes I only will share a verse from the Quran (or several verses) for your inspiration. In this first episode I love to share a nice quote from the Quran (44:51-56) to inspire you:

[...] "As for the righteous, they will be in a secure place. Amidst gardens and springs. Dressed in silk and brocade, facing one another. So it is, and We will wed them to lovely companions. They will call therein for every kind of fruit, in peace and security. Therein they will not taste death, beyond the first death; and He will protect them from the torment of Hell. A favor from your Lord. That is the supreme salvation" [...] (Source: Quran, English translation by Talal Itani)

As I read this verse (Surah 44: Ayah 51-57) than I immediately had a revelation. In this Ayah I see the Holy City, the New Jersalem as is spoken about in the last book of The Bible, Revelations of John.
Or in that first Ayah "Amidst gardens and springs", those that point also to the New Jersulam or to the Garden of Eden? And what do you think of this idea: "We will wed them", isn't that the same what God said?

Paradise

Another thing that came in mind was the following: In Ayah 56 "Therein they will not taste death, beyond the first death; and He will protect them from the torment of Hell" this can point to the Tibetan idea of Bardo as described in the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Or maybe to reincarnation?

As you look at these Ayah in this way than you can almost think that the Quran is created from several other religious books and other ancient knowledge. But I think we have to respect the idea that the Quran was given by God to Muhammed the Prophet.

words of beauty
no human speech can match
the song of birds

© Chèvrefeuille

What a wonderful start this was ... I hope you liked the read as much as I did to create it.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 7th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1378 Finally ... Enlightenment

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate episode of this wonderful month in which we explored the ancient trading route renown as "The Silk Road". We have visited wonderful places and we read a wonderful novel about a young Brahman son, Siddhartha, on a quest for enlightenment. In this penultimate episode we will read the end of this story ... a rich spiritual story in which we can find a lot of wonder and knowledge, or to speak with Siddhartha "finding wisdom".
I have read Siddhartha several times and every time again I read new things, new ideas, new knowledge ... and maybe you have read it with me and have found your revelation, your wisdom, but I am quit certain that you all have enjoyed the read, because Siddhartha's story could have been written for us ... haiku poets.

Cover Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (Sanskrit)

Finally ... Enlightenment:

[...] "Siddhartha," Govinda spoke, "we have become old men. It is unlikely for one of us to see the other again in this incarnation. I see, beloved, that you have found peace. I confess that I haven't found it. Tell me, oh honorable one, one more word, give me something on my way which I can grasp, which I can understand! Give me something to be with me on my path. It is often hard, my path, often dark, Siddhartha."

Siddhartha said nothing and looked at him with the ever unchanged, quiet smile. Govinda stared at his face, with fear, with yearning, suffering, and the eternal search was visible in his look, eternal not-finding.

Siddhartha saw it and smiled.

"Bend down to me!" he whispered quietly in Govinda's ear. "Bend down to me! Like this, even closer! Very close! Kiss my forehead, Govinda!"

Siddhartha (ill. Chinese Encyclopedia of Buddhism)

But while Govinda with astonishment, and yet drawn by great love and expectation, obeyed his words, bent down closely to him and touched his forehead with his lips, something miraculous happened to him. While his thoughts were still dwelling on Siddhartha's wondrous words, while he was still struggling in vain and with reluctance to think away time, to imagine Nirvana and Sansara as one, while even a certain contempt for the words of his friend was fighting in him against an immense love and veneration, this happened to him:

He no longer saw the face of his friend Siddhartha, instead he saw other faces, many, a long sequence, a flowing river of faces, of hundreds, of thousands, which all came and disappeared, and yet all seemed to be there simultaneously, which all constantly changed and renewed themselves, and which were still all Siddhartha. He saw the face of a fish, a carp, with an infinitely painfully opened mouth, the face of a dying fish, with fading eyes—he saw the face of a new-born child, red and full of wrinkles, distorted from crying—he saw the face of a murderer, he saw him plunging a knife into the body of another person—he saw, in the same second, this criminal in bondage, kneeling and his head being chopped off by the executioner with one blow of his sword—he saw the bodies of men and women, naked in positions and cramps of frenzied love—he saw corpses stretched out, motionless, cold, void— he saw the heads of animals, of boars, of crocodiles, of elephants, of bulls, of birds—he saw gods, saw Krishna, saw Agni—he saw all of these figures and faces in a thousand relationships with one another, each one helping the other, loving it, hating it, destroying it, giving re-birth to it, each one was a will to die, a passionately painful confession of transitoriness, and yet none of them died, each one only transformed, was always re-born, received evermore a new face, without any time having passed between the one and the other face—and all of these figures and faces rested, flowed, generated themselves, floated along and merged with each other, and they were all constantly covered by something thin, without individuality of its own, but yet existing, like a thin glass or ice, like a transparent skin, a shell or mold or mask of water, and this mask was smiling, and this mask was Siddhartha's smiling face, which he, Govinda, in this very same moment touched with his lips. And, Govinda saw it like this, this smile of the mask, this smile of oneness above the flowing forms, this smile of simultaneousness above the thousand births and deaths, this smile of Siddhartha was precisely the same, was precisely of the same kind as the quiet, delicate, impenetrable, perhaps benevolent, perhaps mocking, wise, thousand-fold smile of Gotama, the Buddha, as he had seen it himself with great respect a hundred times. Like this, Govinda knew, the perfected ones are smiling.

Enlightenment

Not knowing any more whether time existed, whether the vision had lasted a second or a hundred years, not knowing any more whether there existed a Siddhartha, a Gotama, a me and a you, feeling in his innermost self as if he had been wounded by a divine arrow, the injury of which tasted sweet, being enchanted and dissolved in his innermost self, Govinda still stood for a little while bent over Siddhartha's quiet face, which he had just kissed, which had just been the scene of all manifestations, all transformations, all existence. The face was unchanged, after under its surface the depth of the thousandfoldness had closed up again, he smiled silently, smiled quietly and softly, perhaps very benevolently, perhaps very mockingly, precisely as he used to smile, the exalted one.

Deeply, Govinda bowed; tears he knew nothing of, ran down his old face; like a fire burnt the feeling of the most intimate love, the humblest veneration in his heart. Deeply, he bowed, touching the ground, before him who was sitting motionlessly, whose smile reminded him of everything he had ever loved in his life, what had ever been valuable and holy to him in his life."[...](Source: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse)

And so ends the story of Siddhartha, finally the young Brahman son has found the goal of his quest ... becoming an enlightened being full of wisdom of all ages, full of the universe, full of love for all and everything on the globe.

Isn't that what we all strive for in this life? Isn't that what we strive for as haiku poets? Being one with all and everything, not only being the poet, but also the reader ... That makes our haiku (or tanka or other Japanese poetry form) awesome ... and full of spirituality and love for nature ... being one!

smiling
everlasting
enlightened

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope you did like this episode. I for sure did ... All parts of Siddhartha I have used this month were taken from the Gutenberg project.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 5th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our last episode, in a way an introductory episode to our next month, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1377 Buddhism ... found its way along the Silk Road

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend. I can say that my weekend was a weekend of illness, because the flue caught me, but I recovered fast from it. It's not completely gone, but it doesn't make me feel miserable anymore.

This episode I love to tell you a little bit more about "how Buddhism was spread along the Silk Road". I have written about it in a few of the earlier episodes here , but in this episode (wit a little bit help of Wikipedia) I love to tell you a little bit more about it.

By the way that's also the reason why I tried to read Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse together with you. Siddhartha is a wonderful Indian story in which we read how a young Brahman son, Siddhartha, goes on his way to find enlightenment. We already read about his encounter with the Buddha, but we also read about his encounter with the river ... or in other word the "religion" of the ferryman. About that last piece of Siddhartha's journey to enlightenment I will create an episode later this week. And our last episode of this month will be about "how Islam found its way along the Silk Road". That last episode will also be a kind of "pre-scripture" to our new CDHK month.

Buddhism ... found its way along the Silk Road:

The transmission of Buddhism to China via the Silk Road began in the 1st century CE, according to a semi-legendary account of an ambassador sent to the West by the Chinese Emperor Ming (58–75). During this period Buddhism began to spread throughout Southeast, East, and Central Asia. Mahayana, Theravada, and Tibetan Buddhism are the three primary forms of Buddhism that spread across Asia via the Silk Road.

The Buddhist movement was the first large-scale missionary movement in the history of world religions. Chinese missionaries were able to assimilate Buddhism, to an extent, to native Chinese Daoists, which would bring the two beliefs together. Buddha's community of followers, the Sangha, consisted of male and female monks and laity. These people moved through India and beyond to spread the ideas of Buddha. As the number of members within the Sangha increased, it became costly so that only the larger cities were able to afford having the Buddha and his disciples visit. It is believed that under the control of the Kushans, Buddhism was spread to China and other parts of Asia from the middle of the first century to the middle of the third century. Extensive contacts started in the 2nd century, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the Kushan empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim Basin, due to the missionary efforts of a great number of Buddhist monks to Chinese lands. The first missionaries and translators of Buddhists scriptures into Chinese were either Parthian, Kushan, Sogdian, or Kuchean.

Statue of Buddha giving a sermon

One result of the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road was displacement and conflict. The Greek Seleucids were exiled to Iran and Central Asia because of a new Iranian dynasty called the Parthians at the beginning of the 2nd century BCE, and as a result the Parthians became the new middle men for trade in a period when the Romans were major customers for silk. Parthian scholars were involved in one of the first ever Buddhist text translations into the Chinese language. Its main trade centre on the Silk Road, the city of Merv, in due course and with the coming of age of Buddhism in China, became a major Buddhist centre by the middle of the 2nd century. Knowledge among people on the silk roads also increased when Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya dynasty (268–239 BCE) converted to Buddhism and raised the religion to official status in his northern Indian empire.

From the 4th century CE onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to travel on the Silk Road to India to get improved access to the original Buddhist scriptures, with Fa-hsien's pilgrimage to India, and later Xuanzang (629–644) and Hyecho, who traveled from Korea to India. The travels of the priest Xuanzang were fictionalized in the 16th century in a fantasy adventure novel called Journey to the West, which told of trials with demons and the aid given by various disciples on the journey.

Journey to the West (illustrated)

There were many different schools of Buddhism travelling on the Silk Road. The Dharmaguptakas and the Sarvastivadins were two of the major Nikaya schools. These were both eventually displaced by the Mahayana, also known as "Great Vehicle". This movement of Buddhism first gained influence in the Khotan region. The Mahayana, which was more of a "pan-Buddhist movement" than a school of Buddhism, appears to have begun in northwestern India or Central Asia. It formed during the 1st century BCE and was small at first, and the origins of this "Greater Vehicle" are not fully clear. Some Mahayana scripts were found in northern Pakistan, but the main texts are still believed to have been composed in Central Asia along the Silk Road. These different schools and movements of Buddhism were a result of the diverse and complex influences and beliefs on the Silk Road. With the rise of Mahayana Buddhism, the initial direction of Buddhist development changed. This form of Buddhism highlighted, as stated by Xinru Liu, "the elusiveness of physical reality, including material wealth." It also stressed getting rid of material desire to a certain point; this was often difficult for followers to understand.

During the 5th and 6th centuries CE, merchants played a large role in the spread of religion, in particular Buddhism. Merchants found the moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism to be an appealing alternative to previous religions. As a result, merchants supported Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road, and in return the Buddhists gave the merchants somewhere to stay as they traveled from city to city. As a result, merchants spread Buddhism to foreign encounters as they traveled. Merchants also helped to establish diaspora within the communities they encountered, and over time their cultures became based on Buddhism. As a result, these communities became centers of literacy and culture with well-organized marketplaces, lodging, and storage. The voluntary conversion of Chinese ruling elites helped the spread of Buddhism in East Asia and led Buddhism to become widespread in Chinese society. The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.

Buddha-Day

Isn't it an awesome story ... Buddhism found its way along the Silk Road and became a worldwide religion. In this tradition several centuries later haiku emerged as a poem inspired on nature with a touch of Zen Buddhism ... does that mean that we, haijin, are in a way Buddhists, maybe that's our deeper source for our haiku ...

merchants trade
not only beautiful goods
believes too

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 4th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem Weekend-Meditation #21 Out Of The Box #3 Chōka and Sedōka (Winter / Summer)

!!! Open for your submissions next Sunday February 25th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new Weekend-Meditation. This weekend I have chosen for another nice "Out Of The Box" episode. In this "Out Of The Box" feature I share other poetry forms, mostly Japanese forms, but also other modern forms.

This weekend I love to challenge you to create a Chōka or a Sedōka. I will tell you a little bit more about it hereafter. This "Out Of The Box" episode I have also chosen a task for you. That task is to create a Winter poem and a Summer poem, but you have to use the Chōka or the Sedōka form.

The chōka, “long poem,” is of indefinite length, formed of alternating lines of five and seven syllables, ending with an extra seven-syllable line. Many chōka have been lost; the shortest of those extant are 7 lines long, the longest have 150 lines. They may be followed by one or more envoys (hanka). The amplitude of the chōka permitted the poets to treat themes impossible within the compass of the tanka.

The sedōka, or “head-repeated poem,” consists of two tercets of five, seven, and seven syllables each. An uncommon form, it was sometimes used for dialogues. Kakinomoto Hitomaro’s sedōka are noteworthy. Chōka and sedōka were seldom written after the 8th century.

An example of a Sedoka:

in the backyard -
a rainbow of chrysanthemums
finally autumn has arrived

monks chanting mantras
while sweeping the garden
being one with the universe

© Chèvrefeuille

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions and next Sunday February 25th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until Sunday March 4th at noon (CET). Have a wonderful weekend.

Carpe Diem #1376 Re-United

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelrs,

Today I love to tell you a little bit more about the friendship between Siddhartha and Govinda. Both Brahman's sons who befriended already early in their lifetime. Together they started a quest for enlightenment, but somewhere on their quest their paths separated. Govinda stayed at the Buddha and became a Buddhistic monk and Siddhartha became a merchant. As we read in one of our earlier episodes Siddhartha has chosen to leave his beloved Kamala and ran away from his home.

At the start of his quest he had to cross a river and now he has returned to that river ... and here is what happened after he heard the mysterious and holy "om", before he fell asleep against the trunk of a coconut-tree.

Siddhartha at the river (illustration from the novel by Hermann Hesse)

[...] "Deep was his sleep and without dreams, for a long time he had not known such a sleep any more. When he woke up after many hours, he felt as if ten years had passed, he heard the water quietly flowing, did not know where he was and who had brought him here, opened his eyes, saw with astonishment that there were trees and the sky above him, and he remembered where he was and how he got here. But it took him a long while for this, and the past seemed to him as if it had been covered by a veil, infinitely distant, infinitely far away, infinitely meaningless. He only knew that his previous life (in the first moment when he thought about it, this past life seemed to him like a very old, previous incarnation, like an early pre-birth of his present self)—that his previous life had been abandoned by him, that, full of disgust and wretchedness, he had even intended to throw his life away, but that by a river, under a coconut-tree, he has come to his senses, the holy word Om on his lips, that then he had fallen asleep and had now woken up and was looking at the world as a new man. Quietly, he spoke the word Om to himself, speaking which he had fallen asleep, and it seemed to him as if his entire long sleep had been nothing but a long meditative recitation of Om, a thinking of Om, a submergence and complete entering into Om, into the nameless, the perfected.

OM

What a wonderful sleep had this been! Never before by sleep, he had been thus refreshed, thus renewed, thus rejuvenated! Perhaps, he had really died, had drowned and was reborn in a new body? But no, he knew himself, he knew his hand and his feet, knew the place where he lay, knew this self in his chest, this Siddhartha, the eccentric, the weird one, but this Siddhartha was nevertheless transformed, was renewed, was strangely well rested, strangely awake, joyful and curious.

Siddhartha straightened up, then he saw a person sitting opposite to him, an unknown man, a monk in a yellow robe with a shaven head, sitting in the position of pondering. He observed the man, who had neither hair on his head nor a beard, and he had not observed him for long when he recognised this monk as Govinda, the friend of his youth, Govinda who had taken his refuge with the exalted Buddha. Govinda had aged, he too, but still his face bore the same features, expressed zeal, faithfulness, searching, timidness. But when Govinda now, sensing his gaze, opened his eyes and looked at him, Siddhartha saw that Govinda did not recognise him. Govinda was happy to find him awake; apparently, he had been sitting here for a long time and been waiting for him to wake up, though he did not know him." [...] (Source: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse)

Buddha

OM ("aum") means "highest concepts such as the cause of the Universe, essence of life, Brahman, Atman, and Self-knowledge". OM is a very strong mantra and is very useful to become one with all and everything.

In the story about Siddhartha and Govinda we see the embodiment of OM, because they belong to eachother like Yin and Yang and after they were separated they are again together ... that's the meaning of OM in this story. They will be together always in a spiritual way, because they both take their own path, but in a way the same path. Govinda follows his master Buddha and Siddhartha follows his master ... his Higher Self.

chanting OM
nature awakes in the early light
souls re-united

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until March 1st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1375 Petra

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

My apologies for being late with publishing. I had a very busy evening shift and hadn't time to create our new episode. This month is running towards its end and that makes me a little bit sad, but also a little bit happy. I hadn't thought that this month would be this difficult to create, but ... well it is fun to create our episodes to inspire you.

We are on a journey along the ancient Silk Road and today we arrive at the ancient town Petra. Petra is renown around the world and I hope to inspire you to create haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form.

Petra:

Petra, originally known as Raqmu, is a historical and archaeological city in southern Jordan. Petra lies on the slope of Jabal Al-Madbah in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah valley that run from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. It was established possibly as early as the 4th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataean Kingdom. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who invested in Petra's proximity to the trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub.

The trading business gained the Nabataeans considerable revenue, and Petra became the focus of their wealth. The earliest recorded historical reference to the city was when an envious Greek dynasty attempted to ransack the city in 312 BC. The Nabataeans were, unlike their enemies, accustomed to living in the barren deserts, and were able to repel attacks by utilizing the area's mountainous terrain. They were particularly skillful in harvesting rainwater, agriculture and stone carving. The Kingdom's capital continued to flourish until the 1st century AD when its famous Al-Khazneh facade was constructed, and its population peaked at an estimated 20,000 inhabitants.

Petra, capitol of the Nabataen Kingdom

Encroaching troops of the Roman Empire in 106 AD forced the Nabataeans to surrender. The Romans annexed and renamed the Kingdom to Arabia Petraea. Petra's importance declined as sea trade routes emerged, and after a 363 earthquake destroyed many structures. The Byzantine Era witnessed the construction of several Christian churches. By 700, the city became an abandoned place where only a handful of nomads grazed goats. It remained unknown to Europeans until it was rediscovered in 1812 by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who had read the historical descriptions of Petra and concluded that "there is no other ruin between the extremities of the Dead sea and Red sea, of sufficient importance to answer to that city".

The city is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system. Another name for Petra is the Rose City due to the color of the stone out of which it is carved. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage".

Petra or the Rose City

The Monastery at Petra, an ornate rock cut temple, is only accessible after climbing 800 stairs. This temple dates to the 1st century BCE and is said to be the symposium for those who followed the cult of Obodas I.

It's a renown tourist place in Jordan. I think you all know this ancient city that's renown of its sculptures.

Rose City
abandoned beauty
only grazing goats

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 28th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1374 The Levant

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize for being this late with publishing our new episode of our journey along the Ancient Silk Road, that renown trade route straight through Asia. As I was doing my research for our yesterday's post I ran into what is known as The Levant. As I read that name I thought it was a kind of warm wind, but it turned out that it was a region in Asia. I was immediately triggered, because I think there are many around that have the same idea about The Levant. So here it is our new episode about The Levant and I hope it will be an interesting episode.

The Levant ... Land of the Morninglight

The Levant is a term in geography that refers to an area in the Middle East which includes the historic areas of Palestine, Israel and Syria. The Levant is bounded by the Taurus Mountains to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the northern Arabian Desert to the south and Upper Mesopotamia to the east.
The word "Levant" entered the English language in the 16th century, together with the first English merchant adventurers in the region. English ships appeared in the Mediterranean in the 1570s and the English merchant company signed its agreement ("capitulations") with the Grand Turk in 1579.
Today, the word "Levant" is usually used by archaeologists and historians who are talking about the prehistory and the ancient and medieval history of the region, as when discussing the Crusades. The term is also used sometimes to refer to modern or contemporary events, peoples, states, or parts of states in the same region, such as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

The Levant has been described as the "crossroads of western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and northeast Africa", and the "northwest of the Arabian plate".The populations of the Levant share not only the geographic position, but cuisine, some customs , and a very long history. They are often referred to as Levantines.

The Levant has a rich history

In this "crossroads"- idea we can see that The Levant was part of the Silk Road, so this region was rich and their main goal was trading. The Levant is also a region in which we see Islam as a leading religion. So maybe ... Islam came along the Silk Road too as did Buddhism and Christianity.
What an awesome idea that these religions were spread along the Silk Road ... as a kind of trading ideas and philosophies.

ancient crossroads
buried beneath the desert
raging sandstorms

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 27th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Petra, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1373 Syrian Desert (Southern Route)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are on a journey along the ancient Silk Road, a renown trade route straight through Asia. And today I love to inspire your imagination through a wonderful image of the Syrian Desert. So this will be a very short episode, because of lack of time.

Syrian Desert

shadows dance

against the sand mountains -

stark blue sky

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 26th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Levant, later on. For now have fun!



Carpe Diem #1372 Mesopotamia

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What an amazing month this is. We are on a journey along the ancient Silk Road, a trade route straight through Asia. We started on the Northern Route around the Taklamakan Desert and now we are on the Southern Route. This Silk Road, there were several, we are now visiting ancient Mesopotamia. Let me tell you a little bit more about this ancient country.

Mesopotamia is a historical region in West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in modern days roughly corresponding to most of Iraq plus Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria, Southeastern Turkey, and regions along the Turkish–Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders.

The marshes in the delta region of Euphrates and Tigris today

The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.

Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with western parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD 226, eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians. Division of Mesopotamia between Roman (Byzantine from AD 395) and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra.

Mesopotamia (AdobeStock)

Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops and the development of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy and agriculture."

I think you all have heard from this ancient country. It has a very rich history in is mentioned in the Bible and the Qu'ran, so there is a connection between these religions. That connection we will explore next month as we will "read" the Qu'ran. I have already started reading it and I only can say it's a beautiful book to read and I hope to explore it further next month.

As you know during our journey along the Silk Road we are reading Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse and in that story a river plays a role too. As Siddhartha decides to go the Samanas he has to cross a river and after several years, and after his wealthy period with Kamala, he decides to leave again, He than needs to cross the same river again. He however doesn't cross the river because he becomes the apprentice of the ferryman. That part of the story we will discover later this week.

land of two rivers
which river I have to follow?

A new path chosen

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 25th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem Weekend-Meditation #20 Revise That Haiku

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday February 18th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new CDHK Weekend-Meditation. This weekend I love to challenge you to "revise" a haiku created by one of the classical haiku poets. This weekend-meditation that will be a haiku created by Chiyo Ni (1703-1775). Let me first tell you a little bit more about Chiyo-Ni.

Chiyo-ni (Kaga no Chiyo) was a Japanese poet of the Edo period, widely regarded as one of the greatest poets of haiku. Being one of the few women haiku poets in pre-modern Japanese literature, Chiyo-ni has been seen an influential figure. Before her time, haiku by women were often dismissed and ignored. She began writing Haiku at seven and by age seventeen she had become very popular all over Japan and she continued writing throughout her life. Influenced by the renowned poet Matsuo Bashō but emerging and as independent figure with a unique voice in her own right, Chiyo-ni dedication toward her career not only paved a way for her career but it also opened a path for other women to follow. Chiyo-ni is known as a "forerunner, who played the role of encouraging international cultural exchange".

She is perhaps best known for this haiku:

morning glory!
the well bucket-entangled,
I ask for water

© Chiyo-Ni

Today, the morning glory is a favorite flower for the people of her home town, because she left a number of poems on that flower.

Chiyo-ni standing beside a well. This woodcut by Utagawa Kuniyoshi illustrates her most famous haiku: finding a bucket entangled in the vines of a morning glory, she will go ask for water rather than disturb the flower.

The "Morning Glory" haiku is one of her renown haiku. I think you all have read this one very often. This is the haiku you have to "revise" this weekend. It will not be an easy task, but I think you all will succeed in this task.

Of course I have given it a try myself, and it was for sure not easy, but I think this "revision" is really nice (how immodest).

in the light of dawn
Morning Glory embraces the well
my neighbor gives me water

© Chèvrefeuille

What do you think of this "revision"? Please share your thoughts through the comment-field.

This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday February 18th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 25th at noon (CET). Have a great weekend and enjoy this challenge to revise this renown haiku by Chiyo-Ni. 

 

Carpe Diem #1371 Sansara (the cycle of life)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. This month we are on a journey along the ancient Silk Road. A renown trade-route straight through Asia. While we are on this journey we are (trying) to read a very nice and spiritual novel written by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha. A story about a young Brahman-son who is on a quest for Enlightenment. A few days ago I told you that Siddhartha had found Kamala, a rich courtesan. Through Kamala he is attracted by beauty and wealth, because Kamala wants a lot of goods and more richness of him. Siddhartha becomes a man of the material world. And that made the connection with the ancient Silk Road.

I am a bit "stuck" on prompts about the Silk Road, as I told you earlier this month I hadn't thought that making a whole month about the ancient Silk Road was this difficult.

For today's episode I have chosen to share a part of "Siddhartha" with you. In this part of Siddhartha we see how he is "running" away from his home and his beautiful Kamala. In other words "he is running away from the world". Siddhartha has finally found insight in his life and that the life he lived as a wealthy merchant will not bring him the Enlightment he is looking for. Than the story takes a turn ...

[...] " Siddhartha walked through the forest, was already far from the city, and knew nothing but that one thing, that there was no going back for him, that this life, as he had lived it for many years until now, was over and done away with, and that he had tasted all of it, sucked everything out of it until he was disgusted with it. Dead was the singing bird, he had dreamt of. Dead was the bird in his heart. Deeply, he had been entangled in Sansara (cycle of aimless drifting, wandering or mundane existence), he had sucked up disgust and death from all sides into his body, like a sponge sucks up water until it is full. And full he was, full of the feeling of been sick of it, full of misery, full of death, there was nothing left in this world which could have attracted him, given him joy, given him comfort.

the forest
quiet as never before
even the birds

© Chèvrefeuille

Passionately he wished to know nothing about himself anymore, to have rest, to be dead. If there only was a lightning-bolt to strike him dead! If there only was a tiger a devour him! If there only was a wine, a poison which would numb his senses, bring him forgetfulness and sleep, and no awakening from that! Was there still any kind of filth, he had not soiled himself with, a sin or foolish act he had not committed, a dreariness of the soul he had not brought upon himself? Was it still at all possible to be alive? Was it possible, to breathe in again and again, to breathe out, to feel hunger, to eat again, to sleep again, to sleep with a woman again? Was this cycle not exhausted and brought to a conclusion for him?

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (cover)

Siddhartha reached the large river in the forest, the same river over which a long time ago, when he had still been a young man and came from the town of Gotama, a ferryman had conducted him. By this river he stopped, hesitantly he stood at the bank. Tiredness and hunger had weakened him, and whatever for should he walk on, wherever to, to which goal? No, there were no more goals, there was nothing left but the deep, painful yearning to shake off this whole desolate dream, to spit out this stale wine, to put an end to this miserable and shameful life.

tears fall
on the bank of the river
weeping willow

© Chèvrefeuille

A hang bent over the bank of the river, a coconut-tree; Siddhartha leaned against its trunk with his shoulder, embraced the trunk with one arm, and looked down into the green water, which ran and ran under him, looked down and found himself to be entirely filled with the wish to let go and to drown in these waters. A frightening emptiness was reflected back at him by the water, answering to the terrible emptiness in his soul. Yes, he had reached the end. There was nothing left for him, except to annihilate himself, except to smash the failure into which he had shaped his life, to throw it away, before the feet of mockingly laughing gods. This was the great vomiting he had longed for: death, the smashing to bits of the form he hated! Let him be food for fishes, this dog Siddhartha, this lunatic, this depraved and rotten body, this weakened and abused soul! Let him be food for fishes and crocodiles, let him be chopped to bits by the demons! With a distorted face, he stared into the water, saw the reflection of his face and spit at it. In deep tiredness, he took his arm away from the trunk of the tree and turned a bit, in order to let himself fall straight down, in order to finally drown. With his eyes closed, he slipped towards death.

eyes closed
dreaming away into oblivion
beckoning death

© Chèvrefeuille

Then, out of remote areas of his soul, out of past times of his now weary life, a sound stirred up. It was a word, a syllable, which he, without thinking, with a slurred voice, spoke to himself, the old word which is the beginning and the end of all prayers of the Brahmans, the holy “Om,” which roughly means “that what is perfect” or “the completion.” And in the moment when the sound of “Om” touched Siddhartha’s ear, his dormant spirit suddenly woke up and realized the foolishness of his actions.

entering Heavens
finally purified and without ego
I became wise

© Chèvrefeuille

Siddhartha was deeply shocked. So this was how things were with him, so doomed was he, so much he had lost his way and was forsaken by all knowledge, that he had been able to seek death, that this wish, this wish of a child, had been able to grow in him: to find rest by annihilating his body! What all agony of these recent times, all sobering realizations, all desperation had not brought about, this was brought on by this moment, when the Om entered his consciousness: he became aware of himself in his misery and in his error. Om! he spoke to himself: Om! and again he knew about Brahman, knew about the indestructibility of life, knew about all that is divine, which he had forgotten.

Brahmans Siddhartha and Govinda (painting by Scharkan, Deviant Art)

But this was only a moment, flash. By the foot of the coconut-tree, Siddhartha collapsed, struck down by tiredness, mumbling Om, placed his head on the root of the tree and fell into a deep sleep." [...] (Source: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse)

Of course the story continues. The part after the above given one is in my opinion the most beautiful story written ever, but that we will read next week as we are closing in to the end of February.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 23rd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new weekend-meditation later on. For now ... have fun!