Half Moon Tea Haiku
"Empty the heart-mind of everything.
Gaze out at the forests and mountains.
Allow them to stimulate the
Inborn Light of The Way within you."
-- Kuma-sensei
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the winter solstice
a warm cup of hojicha ---
just another day
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"In our world, it is impossible
for one to buy culture."
Otagaki Rengetsu (1791 - 1875)
[ a haiku after reading
Peter Kingsley's Catafalque ]
cold gray afternoon
single cup of hot sake ---
onward the Tao flows
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the only thing real
the words of the Wayfarers ---
a lantern-lit path
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OUTER
January rain
washes away the old year ---
purification
INNER
slightly warm sake
washes away the old year ---
a new year has come
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quiet night-sitting
rain falls in a steady stream ---
empty mind at peace
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morning gardening
late afternoon gardening ---
our first tomato
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like dancers sleeping
a pile of poplar blossoms ---
even the crows seem tired
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quiet rambling day
keeping the heart-mind open ---
a patch of blue sky
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ears and eyes fully open ---
blooming sakura
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four crows fly at dawn
beneath the crescent moon's glow ---
pink sky norito
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standing between worlds
tall Himalayan cedars ---
a concealed temple
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the god of the wind
blowing prayers through the forest ---
purified senses
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sounds of rain tonight
catching the drops in buckets ---
while sipping pu-erh
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a soft rain falling
the entire world is burning ---
there is no abode
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Spring rain falls like jewels
the Ten Thousand Things nourished ---
Nature's cathedral
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Summer cicadas
a tree frog croaks in the dark ---
the hum of crickets
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cicadas buzzing
already a full day's work ---
new batch of lettuce
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Summer cicadas
nothing but in-breath and out ---
awake in the dream
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a midnight rainstorm
an August night in Georgia ---
feels like liquid gold
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dusky morning light
the whole world a glowing pearl ---
a hummingbird sips
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at the yard's dark edge
late Summer cicadas chant ---
do they know death stalks them?
-
what is this sitting?
just an old corpse pondering
that it is a corpse
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sitting in silence
an owl hoots from the dark trees ---
then falls silent too
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woodpecker hammers
autumn trees for a morsel ---
hunger drives us all
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such folly to watch
abiding non-abiding ---
self goes on grasping
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on the precipice
Shosan's "death" kanji in mind ---
a door creaks open
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a bowl of miso
a cup of kukicha tea ---
what else do I need?
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wandering through town
people move like drifting clouds ---
anonymous ghosts
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withering blossom
yet another empty page ---
quiet Autumn night
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late-night Autumn moon
steam of the waters rising ---
Cypress Tree Temple
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a cold rainy day
rust-colored leaves drift downward ---
so too this heart-mind