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5 November 2018 Shikan Taza Rewrite

Hopefully, you will find this poem one to be savored over timelessness. Once again, a touch of the Japanese, and where there is Japanese there are multiple meanings, surface and deep, nonsense and the profound. Of course, while you read, think meditation; in particular, turn to Zen meditation, often called “shikan taza,” or “just sitting.”

Shikan Taza Rewrite
                                                            For Dainen Katagiri Roshi

                                    In the three times
                                                no say about what happens next
                                                            future poses as hallucination and mirage
                                                no say about what has passed
                                                            things gone swirl like golden birch leaves winter-fallen
                                    Good thing no-self sits here presently
                                                driftwood turning in a turgid river
                                                            becomes familiar with eccentric currents
                                                            carried rootless on rippled waves’ ceaseless velocity
                                                            bubbling up curiously persistent luminosity

                         Contemplation One

                                    Betrayal comes from misunderstanding
                                                The woodsman’s axe fells the exquisite oak
                                    Trust comes calling when someone needs forgiveness
                                                An apple tree gives shade, apples, its very skin and heartwood
                                                            to a selfish boy who grows to harvest timber
                                                                        Three times betrayed

                                                All these rooted in the forest of imagination
                                                            settling slowly into the mud of inevitable stagnation
                                                Still, snow-crushed branches snap back when unburdened

                        Contemplation Two

                                    Accounting
                                                for results in zazen of no progression
                                                a vast breath-stillness going out into space
                                                            the globe spins through darkness filled with grace
                                                feeling good is not a right
                                                doing right a tenuous proposition
                                                            conflated with self-regard and bold opinions 
                                                in truth, these are all mistaken contradictions
                                                            birches green to gold with thick ice breaking
                                                            glittering leaf-coins scattered on the snowy paths we’re making

                        Contemplation Three

                                    Still sitting – no hint of gladness – no apparent sadness
                                                candles’ wax liquifying
                                                all melting in one, being, created and then aging
                                    Robed monk sits inside the world of contemplation
                                                dots of music on the lines with flags flying
                                                            rising from sweet emptiness for an instant in their passing
                                                
Arigato                         

Background:
Some Zen schools stress intellectual study, whereas others focus singularly on seated meditation, or some combination of the two. Personally, I find both satisfying and worthwhile. I think I’ve told you before that I have been a practicing Buddhist for over thirty years. I gravitate toward Soto Zen, and what is called Theravadan. Theravada relies almost entirely on The Pali Canon which is a large set of volumes claimed to be the Buddha’s actual words and teachings.

With that, on to exploration.

Exploration 1:  The number, “three,” appears a few times in the poem. Does this have any meaning for you as you finish the work?

Exploration 2: “Good thing no-self sits here presently”: What the heck is going on here?

Exploration 3: The Japanese almost always include images of nature, as does this poem. Have a look at the alternating mental points with such images.

Your Monday Poet, Jack Pine Savage









Comments

  1. Reading this I yet find the images so Minnesotan, so much like 'here' " ... swirl like golden birch leaves winter-fallen ..."

    ReplyDelete
  2. WW: Well, think about where I/we live, eh? Sometimes a leaf is a leaf is a leaf . . . JPSavage

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