A back-yard chrysanthemum
looked at the setting sun
and faded. ~ Kaen (Y Hoffmann, Japanese Death Poems)
When I revisit this (imperfect) image of a section of an Ireland cemetery, I find myself being emotionally touched by how the statue seems to speak of life’s aloneness and a yearning for that which will lead us away from suffering.
Image submitted in response to Lost in Translation’s photo challenge: imperfect
“Look at the sunflower growing in the garden. The sunflower relies on so many elements in order to manifest itself. There is a cloud inside of the flower because if there were no cloud there would be no rain, and no sunflower could grow. There is the sunshine in the sunflower. We know that without sunshine nothing can grow; there would be no sunflowers. We see the earth, we see the minerals, we see the farmer, we see the gardener, and we see time, space, ideas, the willingness to grow and many other elements. So, sunflowers depend on many conditions in order to manifest, not just once.
I like to use the word ‘manifestation’ instead of ‘birth,’ and I also like to use it instead of ‘creation.’ In our minds, ‘to create’ also means from nothing something is brought forth. The farmer who grows sunflowers does not create the sunflowers. If you look deeply, you see that the farmer is only one of the conditions that can bring sunflowers into being. There are seeds of sunflowers stored in the barn, there are fields outside where you can plan sunflowers, there are the clouds in the sky to make rain, there are fertilizers, there is sunshine to help the sunflowers to grow. You, the farmer, are not really the creator of the sunflower. You are just one of the conditions. Without you the sunflowers cannot manifest. But the same is true of other conditions. All are equally important to the manifestation of the sunflower.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh (No Death, No Fear, pp 87-88)
what do you understand?
an image –
the voice of aging
A puppet dancing
confined and restricted by strings –
a puppet master
confined
image submitted in response to a challenge offered by Lost in Translation
air-raid sirens-
the last to turn off the lights
is a temple with blossoms
~ Sugita Hisajo (M Ueda, Far Beyond the Field)
A photo that says…Danger!
on a tree standing
by the cliff in an old farm
a dove –
how lonely his voice
calling for a friend this evening ~Saigyo (M Ueda, Far Beyond the Field)
butterflies, white
and yellow, on this day
of indecision ~ Inahata Teiko (M Ueda, Far Beyond the Field)
image submitted in response to a challenge offered by The Girl Who Dreams Awake
May that lady live one thousand years who guards the flowers!
My sleeves are wet with thankful tears
As though I had been working
In a garden of dewy chrysanthemums.
~Murasaki Shikibu (Trans: A Omori & K Doi, Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)
wild geese –
between their cries, a slice
of silence
~Katsura Nobuko (M Ueda, Far Beyond the Field)
A slice of an image of blossoms at the city park…submitted in response to Paula’s photo challenge
“What is the cause of everything? …everything relies on everything else in order to manifest. A flower has to rely on non-flower elements in order to manifest. If you look deeply into the flower, you can recognize non-flower elements. Looking into the flower, you recognize the element sunshine; that is a non-flower element. Without sunshine, a flower cannot manifest. Looking at the flower, you recognize the element cloud; that is a non-flower element. Without clouds, the flower cannot manifest. Other elements are essential, such as minerals, soil, the farmer and so on; a multitude of non-flower elects has come together in order to help the flower manifest.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh, No Fear, No Death
those with wings have no roots
those with roots cannot fly
Wanderlust…traveling through time
while wandering about
the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada
spring snow
revives the greenery
then goes
~Kawai Chigetsu (M Ueda, Far Beyond the Field)
images submitted in response to the RGB challenge offered by dutch goes the photo
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