Carpe Diem #1398 Purity

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at this belated episode of our wonderful Kai. I had a busy evening shift so I couldn't publish earlier. This episode is about purity as you can read in the title of it. Purity is extracted from a beautiful, but not that easy to understand poem by the Mystical Poet from Persia, Rumi.

I only will give you the poem to use for your inspiration this time without giving background or comment on it. Only the pure poem nothing more nothing less.

Purity:

A certain Sufi tore his robe in grief, 
and the tearing brought such relief he gave the robe 
the name faraji, which means ripped open,

or happiness, or one who brings the joy 
of being opened. It comes from the stem faraj, 
which also refers to the genitals, male and female.

His teacher understood the purity of the action, 
while others just saw the ragged appearance.

If you want peace and purity, tear away 
the coverings! This is the purpose of emotion, 
to let a streaming beauty flow through you.

Call it spirit, elixir, or the original agreement 
between yourself and God. Opening into that 
gives peace, a song of being empty, pure silence.

© Rumi (Taken from The Book of Love by Coleman Barks)

Ripped Jeans (image found on Pinterest)

A wonderful poem I would say. 

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 3rd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1389 Begging Bowl

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy this part of the month is. We are reading the poems of Rumi, the Mystical Poet. Rumi has really written wonderful beautiful poems with a deep spiritual meaning hidden in it.
As you all know haiku has a Zen-Buddhistic base and that brought me the idea to share a poem by Rumi in which you can read this base too. I even remembered a haiku I have written once that fits the "tone" of this poem by Rumi.

thrown away bowl
once filled with rice 
dances on the wind

© Chèvrefeuille

Or this one:

an empty bowl
but in it is the spirit of emptiness -
the spring breeze

© Chèvrefeuille

I think you all understand in which direction these haiku are pointing. In these haiku we can read one of the pillars of Buddhism, Emptiness. And that Emptiness is part of the poem by Rumi which I love to share with you for your inspiration. As I stated above, emptiness is part of Buddhism, but Rumi wasn't a Buddhist, he was a Sufi. But there is something with him. He has said himself that he wasn't of any kind of religion. There are sources that say that Rumi was muslim, but he never said that himself. He was one of the earliest enlightened spirits that said "All Gods Are One God".

Young Buddhist Monk with Begging Bowl (image found on Pinterest)

So ... I am looking forward to your responses on this beauty by Rumi:

Saladin's Begging Bowl:

Of these two thousand "I" and "We" people,
which am I?

Don't try to keep me from asking!
Listen, when I'm this out of control!
But don't put anything breakable in my way!

There is an original inside me.
What's here is a mirror for that, for you.

If you are joyful, I am.
If you grieve, or if you're bitter, or graceful,
I take on those qualities.

Like the shadow of a cypress tree in the meadow,
like the shadow of a rose, I live
close to the rose.

If I separated myself from you,
I would turn entirely thorn.

Every second, I drink another cup of my own blood-wine.
Every instant, I break an empty cup against your door.

I reach out, wanting you to tear me open.

Saladin's generosity lights a candle in my chest.
Who am I then?

His empty begging bowl.

© Rumi (Tr. Coleman Barks)

Let me tell you a little about the background of the begging bowl as used in Buddhism. I think it will help you to relate to this poem by Rumi.

Buddhist Monk along the way to Osaka (Japan)

The begging bowl or alms bowl is one of the simplest but most important objects in the daily lives of Buddhist monks. It is primarily a practical object, used as a bowl in which to collect alms (either money or food) from lay supporters.

But the begging bowl also has symbolic significance associated with the historical Buddha. According to one legend, when he began meditating beneath the Bodhi Tree, a young woman offered him a golden bowl filled with rice, thinking he was the divinity of the tree. He divided the rice into 49 portions, one for each day until he would be enlightened, and threw the precious bowl into the river.

This and other legends, combined with its humble monastic uses, have made the simple begging bowl a symbol of the Buddha's teachings on nonattachment. The Vinaya states that monks may use bowls made of either iron or clay, and they can be small, medium, or large.

Well ... what a nice poem this is and as we look at the "back-story" what a wonder it is that through this poem by Rumi we can find the classic ideas about haiku ... one of those ideas is "a Buddhistic" layer.

an empty bowl

thrown away in the sink

the faint scent of tea

as I empty the kettle -

time for coffee

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 21st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1388 The Community Of The Spirit

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all do like the change of theme from the Quran to Rumi The Mystical Poet. Rumi is one Persia's most known poets next to Hafiz. There are more than 60.000 poems known written by Rumi. He not only wrote poems as we will read here, he also wrote quartrains like Omar Khayyam.

Today I haven't enough time to create a "big" episode, because I am on the nightshift. So for today I only will share an other wonderful poem by Rumi to inspire you. I think this poem can be an awesome source of inspiration and I hope you all will be inspired to create haiku, tanka or another Japanese poetry form.

water ripple

A Community Of The Spirit:

There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street,
and being the noise.

Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.

Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.

Open your hands,
if you want to be held.

Sit down in this circle.

Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepherd's love filling you.

At night, your beloved wanders.
Don't accept consolations.

Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover's mouth in yours.

You moan, "She left me." "He left me."
Twenty more will come.

Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!

Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?

Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.

Flow down and down in Always
widening rings of being.

© Rumi

A beautiful poem on love, real love I think. So I love to challenge you to create a haiku or tanka on love inspired on this beautiful poem by Rumi.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 20th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1174 silence

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. This month we are exploring the beauty of Persian poetry through reading poems of Rumi, Hafez (or Hafiz) and Saadi. We have read already wonderful poems, but the one for today is ... well I think this is a difficult poem to understand by Saadi, but maybe I just have to share it already now ...

Silence

Nothing is better for an ignorant man than silence, and if he were to consider it to be suitable, he would not be ignorant.

If thou possessest not the perfection of excellence
It is best to keep thy tongue within thy mouth.
Disgrace is brought on a man by his tongue.
A walnut, having no kernel, will be light.

A fool was trying to teach a donkey,
Spending all his time and efforts in the task.
A sage observed: "O ignorant man, what sayest thou?
Fear blame from the censorious in this vain attempt.
A brute cannot learn speech from thee.
Learn thou silence from a brute".

Who does not reflect what he is to answer
Will mostly speak improperly.
Come. Either arrange thy words like a wise man
Or remain sitting silent like a brute.

© Saadi (From: The Gulistan - Chapter 8 – Tr. Omar Ali-Shah (?))

Saadi in the Rose Garden (Gulistan)

After some research I found a complete translation of Saadi's "The Gulistan", I couldn't find a name of the translator (I think it is the translation done by Omar Ali-Shah), but it was a beautiful translation and a very rich book to read. Let me tell you a little bit background of "The Gulistan".

The Gulistan ("The Rose Garden") is a landmark of Persian literature, perhaps its single most influential work of prose. Written in 1258 CE, it is one of two major works of the Persian poet Saadi, considered one of the greatest medieval Persian poets. It is also one of his most popular books, and has proved deeply influential in the West as well as the East. The Gulistan is a collection of poems and stories, just as a rose-garden is a collection of roses. It is widely quoted as a source of wisdom. The well-known aphorism still frequently repeated in the western world, about being sad because one has no shoes until one meets the man who has no feet "whereupon I thanked Providence for its bounty to myself" is from the Gulistan.

The minimalist plots of the Gulistan's stories are expressed with precise language and psychological insight, creating a "poetry of ideas" with the concision of mathematical formulas. The book explores virtually every major issue faced by humankind, with both an optimistic and a subtly satirical tone. There is much advice for rulers, in this way coming within the mirror for princes genre. But as Eastwick comments in his introduction to the work,  there is a common saying in Persian, "Each word of Saadi has seventy-two meanings", and the stories, alongside their entertainment value and practical and moral dimension, frequently focus on the conduct of dervishes and are said to contain sufi teachings.

What to say about this poem? I think, after reading and re-reading, I think the essence of the poem is in the last lines:

"Who does not reflect what he is to answer / Will mostly speak improperly. / Come. Either arrange thy words like a wise man / Or remain sitting silent like a brute."

Or as we say here in The Netherlands "Bezint eer ge begint" (English: Think twice before you start)

I think this is the lesson of Saadi in this poem ... think twice before you react ... and I know what that means. I certainly know that I am not always that wise man ... there are situations in which I respond immediately and than afterwards I regret what I have said or done. But ... I think that's what makes me (us) human ... we are humans responding from our heart and not from our mind. That by the way makes us haiku poets too. We are in the moment, we are one with all and everything and we create our poems right from our heart.

I wasn't inspired enough, but I created the following haiku:

deep silence
sunbeams breaking through the water -
shadow of a willow

in deep silence
thoughts tumbling through my mind
awakening

(c) Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 20th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, our "weekend-meditation", a new "Namasté:, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Theme Week #4 (7 ): Latifa Prayer lines 6 & 7: "I love" and "I am prepared"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I don't know what went wrong, but I have still two lines for this last episode of our 4th Theme Week about the Latifa Prayer, that powerful and wonderful Sufi prayer with roots in Islam. So I have (again) a "double" episode, sorry for that.

Introduction:

The first line I love to share here of this "double" episode is "I Love". What is Love? I think its an energy that "sleeps" deep down in our heart, waiting to come to bloom. Love we have in several meanings. Love as in loving another human for his / her inner beauty (and outer beauty), an unconditional love I mean in this case. But there is also something we call love, but is more about sex without that unconditional love ... just because someone needs to have sex.

I think in the Latifa Prayer it's about that first kind of love, unconditonal love for all and everything. That love stays a mystery ... you can not go on a quest for that kind of love .... that kind of love overcomes you unexpected.

lotus flowers
rising from the depths of the pond
everlasting love
like a river flows onwards
uncertain of its goal

© Chèvrefeuille

Love is about your deepest desires, let your heart speak ... and not your mind.

The last line of the Latifa Prayer "I am prepared" connects you to all and everyone around, it connects you with the desires you want. I will connect you to your Higher Self.

Earlier this week I told you that there is a kind of Latifa Prayer Meditation and I love to share that meditation here with you. It's an easy way to meditate and it will make you happy or happier than you already are.

Meditation

Latifa Prayer Meditation:

Are you ready? Are you relaxed and in a nice comfortable position? Let me take you ... into the Latifa Prayer Meditation. As I am doing this meditation I always play relaxing music like e.g. the music of Karunesh . Just relaxation music. I am not a guy that sits in the "meditation-position" I love to lean back against the wall or lay down on the couch or my bed.
First I start to regulate my breathing to open my energy fields, my chakras. This takes mostly a few minutes. Than starts the Latifa Prayer Meditation:

1. At first you place your right hand on your left flank by the help of your left hand.  Always use your left hand to help your right hand. Than you say out loud: I exist. You breathe steady and softly and think about the reason why you exist. Questions will appear in your mind. Answer them.

2. Bring (by the help of your left hand), your right hand to your right flank. Say to yourself: I desire. Think about the things you desire and be aware.

3. Bring your right hand to your left lung. Say to yourself: I hope. Think about all the things you wish and want in life. Because of this you are going to be able to make space in your mind.

4. Bring your right hand to your right lung. Say out loud: I believe and I trust.  Believe and trust will make you stronger and will help you to let go of your hope and be certain about the things you doubt.

5. Place your right hand on your neck. Say: I let go. This area consists of all the things you keep to yourself like sadness, anger and your own voice. Because of letting these things slip out of your mind, you will breath better. Thinking of your own believes helps you to achieve this exercise.

6. Place your right hand on the centre of your chest. Tell yourself: I love. Loving is one of the strongest and purest feelings we have. Give your heart a chance to speak. Bring out your deepest desires.

7. To finish the prayer you bring your right hand above your bellybutton. Place your left hand on top of it and say the words: I am prepared. Being prepared will connect you with your own voice. The things you want and desire. (Source)

I hope you liked this meditation and of course that it has brought you positive energy.

 

(video by: LiLoveLi )

My response:

For my response on this episode I ran through my archives and gathered a few haiku which fit the theme of this episode:
 

dervishes whirling
seeking a higher consciousness -
third eye opens
© Chèvrefeuille

chanting their mantra
broomstick and rake in hand
true meditation
© Chèvrefeuille


the moon is rising
silvery waves resonate
in tune with my heart
© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... this was our fourth Carpe Diem Theme Week, I hope you did like this week.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 26th at noon (CET). Have fun. !! Next month our Fifth Theme Week is titled "Ascension" !!

Carpe Diem Theme Week #4 (4) Latifa Prayer "I hope"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our fourth Theme Week about the Latifa Prayer. In this episode we will explore the thrid line "I Hope", but first I have to make an announcement.
A few days ago I got an e-mail by Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet) she told me that her mother's health is worsening fast, so she will not be very often at Carpe Diem in the upcoming weeks. Please remember her and her mother and her family in your prayers. Thank you.

praying hands
seeking the wisdom of the Lord
the cry of an eagle 

© Chèvrefeuille, your host.

Introduction:

Today the third line of the Latifa Prayer "I hope". Hope is the one thing we never have to forget. There is always hope and as we will loose hope than what's than ...?
There are several ways to use the Latifa Prayer, one of course to pray it, but another use is in meditation and that meditation I love to share in the last episode of this Theme Week. The Latifa Prayer Meditation is built around the seven lines of the Latifa Prayer and in that meditation you have to use several gestures. For the third line "I hope" that's the following gesture:

[...] Bring your right hand to your left lung. Always use your left hand to help your right hand. Say to yourself: I hope. Think about all the things you wish and want in life. Because of this you are going to be able to make space in your mind. [...]

My response:

As I was preparing this new episode I ran through several posts here at Carpe Diem and one in particular came in mind. Maybe you can remember our series about the "Divine Tarot" in which we explored the divine in the Tarot. One of the cards of the Great Arcana is The Star and that card came in mind as I was doing my research for this episode. Let me give you a quote from that episode:

[...] "The Star (Jesus) represents a moment, a time, of renewed hope, inspiration and discovery. (The time of Aquarius in which we are living now?) We have escaped The Devil, as we saw in The Devil (XV) and The Tower (XVI) and we are now in calm waters. It's a major breakthrough, a new opportunity to rise to a higher state of consciousness. (In The Tower (XVI) there is a third window. That window means 'super consciousness' which is just granted to a few. It stands for the secret, ancient, deeper knowledge as hidden in the Crown of the Tree of Life, the Kabbalistic glyph, Kether or God Consciousness. And that knowledge is now in reach through the spiritual growth, through this Aquarius era.

gaining insight
re-balancing the Inner Self
the Crown is in reach

The Star (XVII) is the first of three cards of increasing light. A higher pathway will become visible, the way to Calvary. A way we have to go to enter the City of God. The Star is indicating that we are approaching the goal of Enlightenment". [...]

What has this to do with "I Hope"? I think this shows that all religions are connected with each other. All religions are seeking their goals walking upon their own paths, but in the essence of every religion lays Hope ... Hope to create a better world full of peace honoring each other's ideas, honoring our environment. Hope we can only reach by following the light (and I don't mean that Light of Christianity alone, but all light that comes to use by all our different religious and spiritual backgrounds) we need light to see our path ... not only that real path in front of you, but also that Inner Path we all follow with our heart and soul.

Without Hope all will be lost.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 22nd at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem's Theme Week 4: (1) Latifa Prayer, introduction

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome the fourth Carpe Diem Theme Week. This Theme Week we will explore / discover a very ancient Sufi prayer ... the Latifa Prayer. This prayer is used very often in the Bahai religion, the Islam and in the Sufi religion.
Not so long ago I discovered this powerful prayer as the base of a meditation, but also a source to come closer to your Self, Higher Self or subconsciousness. I think in this time it's important to look at different religions and philosophies and I think the Latifa Prayer is the right way to look at how the world is meant to be.

Let me first introduce to you the Latifa Prayer, these are the words of the Latifa Prayer:

I exist

I desire

I hope

I believe and I trust

I let go

I love

I am prepared

And for this introductory episode I love to tell you something more about the background of this wonderful Latifa Prayer.

Lataif-e-sitta (Persian: لطائف سته‎‎) or al-Laṭaʾif as-Sitta (Arabic: اللطائف الستة‎), meaning "The Six Subtleties", are psychospiritual "organs" or, sometimes, faculties of sensory and suprasensory perception in Sufi psychology, and are explained here according to the usage amongst certain Sufi groups (key terms in this article are taken from the Urdu, rather than the original Arabic). These six subtleties are thought to be parts of the self in a similar manner to the way glands and organs are part of the body. Drawing from the Qur'an, many Sufis distinguish Nafs, Qalb, Sirr, Ruh, Khafi, and Akhfa as the six laṭaʾif.

Similar concepts in other spiritual systems include the Dantian mentioned in traditional Chinese medicine, martial arts and meditation, the sephiroth of kabbalah and the chakras of Indian Tantra and Kundalini yoga.

Among Sufis spiritual development involves awakening centers of perception that lie dormant in every person. The help of a guide is considered necessary to help activate them in a certain order. Each center is associated with a particular color, a general area of the body, and often with a particular prophet. Activation of all these "centers" is part of the inner methodology of the Sufi way or "Work". Purification of the elementary passionate nature (tazkiyat an-nafs), cleansing the spiritual heart (tazkiyat al-qalb), becoming a receptacle of divine love (ishq), illumination of the spirit (tajjali ar-ruh), emptying egocentric drives (taqliyyat as-sirr) and remembering the divine attributes, often through repetition of the names of God, (dhikr) are a process by which the dervish is said to reach a certain type of "completion" in the opening of the last two faculties, khafi and akhfa.

And to conclude this first Theme Week episode I have the following haiku for you from my archives. This haiku was inspired on a beautiful piece of music by Karunesh.

dervishes whirling
- seeking a higher consciousness
third eye opens

© Chèvrefeuille

This first episode of our fourth Carpe Diem Theme Week Latifa Prayer is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 19th at noon (CET) !! four days to respond !!

As you all know I will create an exclusive CDHK e-book after every Theme Week. If you are participating in this Theme Week you give me, your host, permission to use your work (of course fully credited as I always do).

Carpe Diem Extra May 7th 2016 Carpe Diem Theme Week 4th edition.

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

A few months ago I started with Carpe Diem Theme Week. This month we will have our 4th edition of the CD Theme Week. I recently read an article about Sufism, but more specific, the Latifa Prayer and I love to introduce that powerful prayer to you in the upcoming CD Theme Week which will start on Sunday May 15th and will 'run' to Saturday May 21st.
I am looking forward to this new theme week.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host.