The Living Wind
Picture a leaf in a wind
(a small thing).
Picture the scale of the known universe
(a BIG thing).
[And that BIGNESS is only what we can measure!
There's more!]
Basho's Hero: Zhuangzi (Chuang-Tzu, 369—298 BCE) talked about zoka (creative force of nature). At Pure Land Haiku we talk about:
The Living Wind
What's the difference? Whilst we like the idea of zoka, we feel it is a small idea compared to the living wind idea. No disrespect to Chuang-Tzu (perish the thought - we love him!).
electronic sky—
out in autumn's storm, lit
by distant cities
Picture the unknown universe, beyond our telescopic (and microscopic!) measurements. It's not easy. We seem to stand on the sea's side - where logic thins out? It's like the flu? We give in and figure.. some things are not possible?
Picture: the known universe.
Picture: a leaf in a wind.
NOW
As the leaf is to the known universe,
the known universe is to the unknown universe.
[It scales up more.]
We omitted outer darkness - that nothingness out of which springs the 10,000 things of this somethingness (as the Tao people insist).
Existence:
nothingness
in motion. . . .
TIP: Put a sticky on your fridge, or, better still, on the front door. Every time you go out with the purpose of engaging zoka, pause and read your note. What does it say?
The Living Wind
This changes everything. . .
......................................................................................................................................................................
This is how we hunt the wild haiku. . .
jp
jp 06-10-11
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Furyu (Japanese) : ‘As wind and stream’. Journey (without a plan) into and with the flow of events (Tao) to find out what happens! Initiate a serendipitous Zen quest into the mystic. Perhaps hunting the wild haiku!
This is a powerful idea? Great cure for procrastination and a call to adventure into the unknown. Pin the word to your front door, put a sticky on your bathroom mirror, make a magnet for your fridge..
HERE IS A HAIKU TO REMIND US . . .
message in a bottle
/
good luck bottled water!
sail this English summer river
to a foreign sea
— jp
*The idea, as you can see by spinning the word ''this', is to put some local river water in a bottle and send it sailing away into the stream of events - hopefully it will make it to a foreign sea - a liquid diplomat.
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At Pure Land haiku we call this THE LIVING WIND now. A development of this furyu concept and several other factors (including zoka). Here is a nice entry on furyu:
Literally ‘wind and stream’ or ‘in the way of the wind and stream.’ A way of living that gradually expands your sense of beauty, taste, and aesthetic appreciation. The poet Yosa Buson re-introduced Basho’s concept of furyu after it had fallen out of use. A master of both poetry and painting, and a leader of the haiku revival that occurred between 1765 and 1785, Buson refocused Basho’s concept in what he called ‘the principle of rizoku,’ which meant ‘transcending the ordinary.’ To achieve transcendence Buson said a poet should study classical verse, distance herself from the realms of commerce and competition, and contemplate the simple beauties of nature.
http://www.stillinthestream.com/files/glossary.html
jp 07-07-10