Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry forms like haiku and tanka. It’s a warmhearted family of haiku poets created by Chèvrefeuille, a Dutch haiku poet. Japanese poetry is the poetry of nature and it gives an impression of a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. ++ ALL WORKS PUBLISHED ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THE RIGHTS BELONG TO THE AUTHORS ++ !!! Anonymous comments will be seen as SPAM !!!
Well ... I had promised you a more frequent episode of this new feature, but I couldn't find the time. One of my co-workers has had a heart attack, so I had to take over several of her shifts and that took a lot of my time. So my excuses for not following my promise. I will try to publish our new Time Challenge feature every Saturday, so once a week.
Let me tell you our goal for this feature: The goal is to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poem inspired on a given theme. You have limited time to respond, only 48 hours! So a "real" time challenge.
On May 7th we had a Super Flower Full Moon, so that's our theme for this new Time Challenge.
During Covid-19 crisis I have done CDHK in Lock Down too, but now we see all around that the Lock Down is brought to lower rules, therefore I love to give you a new challenging feature. It's not completely new, because we have had the CDHK Time Glass feature back in our history, this new challenging feature is a "remake" of that feature.
The goal is to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poem inspired on a given theme. You have limited time to respond, only 48 hours! So a "real" time challenge. To bring this new feature up and running I will publish every 48 hours, a new Time Challenge.
Today I have chosen for the theme "First Blossom". Post your inspired poetry within 48 hours here at CDHK through the linking widget below (click on our Logo).
fading moonlight caresses fragile blossoms finally spring
This Time Challenge starts NOW and will run until Monday May 4th 11:55 PM (CEST). Have fun! Add your post by clicking on the CDHK logo below (it will bring you to Blenza, a website that provides the linking widget for this new feature)
It has been a while that I did CDHK in "Lock-Down", because of my busy life as a healthcare worker during Covid-19. It seems that the Covid-19 pandemic is on its return, at least here in Europe and especially in The Netherlands, but in healthcare we are still very busy.
Patients from hospitals are now being transferred to the nursing home where I am working, so I will stay very busy the upcoming weeks. Therefore I have decided to stay in our CDHK "Lock-Down" for a few weeks. I hope to publish again in about, say ... 2 or 3 weeks. Sorry for this, but I need to focus on my work as a healthcare worker.
feeling lonesome missing the warm embrace of family -
stay safe
I think you all have noticed that I haven't posted this week, or not that much this month. Let me explain it, but I think you all will know.
As you all know I am an oncology nurse and with the Corona virus spreading all over the world it is all hands on deck with caring for our patients, and in my case, the elderly people. So I don't have time anymore to publish our regular posts. You can say that "Carpe Diem Haiku Kai goes in Lock Down.
a summer drink now turned into a plague spreading ...
First I have to apologize (again). At the moment my life is a bit upside down, because of circumstances in private and at work, so my mind isn't really at our wonderful Kai. So before I give you our Thursday episode I have to tell you all that this month I will not always publish an episode every day. I just can't find the peace to create them for you in the quality you all deserve. I hope you all will accept this choice.
This month we are on a pilgrimage at Shikoku Island, a kind of reprise of our earlier pilgrimage there back in 2014. Today we have a nice episode about Yasaka-ji, the 47th temple of the Shikoku Pilgrimage.
Yasaka-ji temple is dedicated to Amida Nyorai. Let me tell you a little bit more about Amida Nyorai.
Amitābha, also known as Amida or Amitāyus, is a celestial buddha according to the scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism. Amitābha is the principal buddha in Pure Land Buddhism, a branch of East Asian Buddhism. In Vajrayana Buddhism, Amitābha is known for his longevity attribute, magnetising red fire element, the aggregate of discernment, pure perception and the deep awareness of emptiness of phenomena. According to these scriptures, Amitābha possesses infinite merit resulting from good deeds over countless past lives as a bodhisattva named Dharmakāra. Amitābha means "Infinite Light", and Amitāyus means "Infinite Life" so Amitābha is also called "The Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life".
Kobayashi Issa, one of the big-five haiku poets, was a buddhist in the tradition of the Pure Land Buddhism and he wrote several haiku with that theme, here are a few examples:
"Praise the unshackled heavenly gods!" plum blossoms if you're praying pray to Amida Buddha! summer cicadas one paulownia leaf good choice! it falls westward
Welcome at a new episode of our Kai, but before I start with this episode I have to apologize for not publishing last weekend. There were circumstances in private life that needed my attention so I hadn't time to publish our weekend meditation last weekend.
Today I have a more informative episode for you all about the Shikoku Pilgrimage, the pilgrimage that is our theme this month.
The Shikoku Pilgrimage or Shikoku Junrei is a multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) on the island of Shikoku, Japan. A popular and distinctive feature of the island's cultural landscape, and with a long history, large numbers of pilgrims (known as henro still undertake the journey for a variety of ascetic, pious, and tourism-related purposes.
In addition to the 88 "official" temples of the pilgrimage, there are over 200 bangai — temples not considered part of the official 88. To complete the pilgrimage, it is not necessary to visit the temples in order; in some cases it is even considered lucky to travel in reverse order.
The pilgrimage is traditionally completed on foot, but modern pilgrims use cars, taxis, buses, bicycles, or motorcycles. The walking course is approximately 1,200 km long and can take anywhere from 30 to 60 days to complete. "Henro" is the Japanese word for pilgrim, and the inhabitants of Shikoku call the pilgrims o-henro-san, the o being an honorific and the san a title similar to "Mr." or "Mrs.". They are often recognizable by their white clothing, sedge hats, and kongō-tsue or walking sticks. Alms or osettai are frequently given. Many pilgrims begin and complete the journey by visiting Mount Kōya in Wakayama Prefecture, which was settled by Kūkai and remains the headquarters of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. The 21 km walking trail up to Koya-san still exists, but most pilgrims use the train.
mysterious Island dedicated to the Path of Enlightenment four countries* as one
This Shikoku pilgrimage took us two whole months (February & March 2014) and I love to share part of the first episode of March 2014, about the 40th temple Kanjizai-ji. (Just to make it myself easy).
[...] Kanjizai-ji is situated in the town called Ainan and is devoted to Yakushi Nyorai or the Buddha of Medicine and Healing. He is still one of the most important Buddhas especially during rituals which are performed at funerals, because he is also the Buddha who leads the buddhists to Nirvana.
Nirvana calling Yakushi Nyorai guides you to Enlightenment
