Carpe Diem Namasté, the Spiritual Way #4 keepers of the earth

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

In my garden I have a small statue of Buddha, he always sits there, meditating and contemplating. I a way he is my spiritual master. Sometimes I kneel in front of him. I bow my head. Than my mind becomes clear and silent. All my thoughts stop, complete emptiness in my head. All my senses awaken and than ... the miracle ... I hear nature, I breath nature, I see nature, I feel nature, I sense nature in a way I have never sensed it. I become one with nature.
As I look back than I feel, I experience every moment of my life again. Than I see how my. our, life has changed.

Recently I had a small depression. I questioned all and everything I had done. One day I sat down and looked back on the years that have passed. I saw how "my" Buddha was covered with snow and he sat there without having a problem with it. Than Buddha was covered with the fragile beauty of cherry blossom of the old Sakura in my garden. I became Buddha, I felt the softness of the cherry blossoms, I smelt the decay of the blossoms. I saw the life-stream through the Sakura and followed it through its branches, its trunk  and in its roots deep hidden in the earth. I became the Cherry tree. Right at that moment I learned to appreciate the Cherry.
One day, just after the start of summer, Buddha was the only one in my garden that captured a spot of sunlight. It was a mystical experience ... the (so-called) Pelican-Tree behind Buddha, a surrogate for the Bodhi Tree, caught a bit of sunlight too. At that moment I had a "karumi" experience, a revelation. I saw for the very first time that the leaves of the Pelican Tree had a thin red pinkish edge. I really hadn't seen that earlier, but it must have been there forever, I however hadn't seen it. On that moment I thought "Wow, nature is gorgeous. I have to go back to nature. Only than I can be one with nature as a real haiku poet".

Pelican Tree (Salix Integra)

Later that year, when summer departed and autumn colored nature I saw that beauty again, more intense than ever. A small colorful leaf was in the folded hands of Buddha, a few days later we had the first frost and that leaf in Buddha's hands had become more fragile, more beautiful ... that thin layer of frost told me "seasons come and go, and nature knows it  better than which intelligent species on earth".

Just a little story to explain what this Namasté episode is about. We are one with nature. We need nature, we have to take care of nature, we have to be the keepers of the earth like all those shamans all around the world. We are all keepers of the earth and we are praising earth with our haiku.

Be a keeper of the earth, live with nature as if you see it for the very first time. See that apple as if you see it for the first time. Look at the apple follow its life back to the blossoms, the bare branches, the trunk, its roots ... than you will experience its beauty, its richness, its taste to the max. In a way become the apple. Isn't that what Zen-Buddhism means?
Zen-Buddhism is one of the pillars of haiku. In Zen-Buddhism one of the sacred ideas / thoughts is Oneness. Be one with all and everything around you .... be the keeper of the earth.

This Namasté feature is meant to be a kind of "meditation" to contemplate and think it over. Become part of the story of your life ... you are a keeper of the earth.

To give you time to meditate and contemplate you can start to submit your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form next Sunday March 5th at 7.00 PM (CET) until March 7th at 7.00 PM (CET). So you have a few days to think it over and create your poetry and you have a few days to post your submission.

I hope to publish our new episode, dancer, Sunday 5th around 7.00 PM (CET). Enjoy your weekend.

Carpe Diem #1037 pleasure

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Earlier this month I had a beautiful quote by Lord Byron (1788-1824) and today I love to share another beautiful quote by him. As you maybe have noticed all the last few episode used quotes on nature by very different people, so today's quote is also about nature. I think this quote is in short how we, haiku poets, experience nature. Not man is important, but nature around us is, because we are all part of nature and we have to be careful with nature. I think that's what made me a haiku poet, because I am a steward, a keeper of nature ...

nature

And here is the quote by Lord Byron to inspire you:

[...] "There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more." [...] Lord Byron

Well ... did I say to much? A beautiful quote that fits us, haiku poets, like a glove. Here is my response:

wandering through the woods
no paved paths to walk on
bare footed I feel 

© Chèvrefeuille

Awesome ... I love to go bare footed, I love to feel the earth beneath my feet it makes me feel alive and one with nature. Completely naked I would run through these pathless woods, completely naked I would run along the shore ... listening to the thundering surf, the cry of seagulls ... one with nature ... feel it ... we are part of nature.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 1st at noon (CET). Have fun!

Visit also: A Tribute To Jane Reichhold, our new Tumblr.

Carpe Diem #1009 druids

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This is the penultimate episode of this month in which we discovered / explored the mysteries of nature through the Ogham alphabet. Yesterday I told you a little bit more about the Ogham alphabet and today I love to tell you a little bit more about druids and druidism. 

Druids occur in many mystical tales. In one, a Druid, Figol, threatened to bring fire to rage on his enemies and prevent the men and their steeds from going to the toilet! Their bodies would fill with urine! Of course, from our knowledge of the world today we know that this is impossible, but so many accounts of druids are riddled with mysticism, magic and possible exaggeration.

The origin of the word ‘Druid’’ is unclear, but the most popular view is that it comes from ‘doire’, an Irish-Gaelic word for oak tree (often a symbol of knowledge), also meaning ‘wisdom’. Druids were concerned with the natural world and its powers, and considered trees sacred, particularly the oak.

Druidism can be described as a shamanic religion, as it relied on a combination of contact with the spirit world and holistic medicines to treat (and sometimes cause) illnesses. They were said to have induced insanity in people and been accurate fortune tellers. Some of their knowledge of the earth and space may have come from megalithic times.

druid

There is a lot of mystery shrouding the actual history of the Druids, as our knowledge is based on limited records. Druidism is thought to have been a part of Celtic and Gaulish culture and to have originated in Britain, with the first classical reference to them in the 2nd century BC.

Their practices were similar to those of priests today, connecting the people with the gods, but their role was also varied and wide-ranging, acting as teachers, scientists, judges and philosophers. They were incredibly powerful and respected, able to banish people from society for breaking the sacred laws, and even able to come between two opposing armies and prevent warfare! They did not have to pay taxes or serve in battle. Druid women were also considered equal to men in many respects, unusual for an ancient community. (source: UK History)

ancient wisdom
comes alive again
healing nature

© Chèvrefeuille

Druidism is very similar with shamanism and with haiku. All are one with nature and that makes us, haiku poets, in  a way ... druids too.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until August 3rd at noon (CET). I will try to post our last episode of this month, fairies, later on.