A quiet man.

Today is a day of rest and reading.

What's on my table?

Robert Lax.

Lax was a poet, a lover of simplicity with a deep respect for poverty, including his own. Not just of funds, but of posessions, and of words. He wrote sparingly, to say the least. 

A beautiful, fascinating, silent man. His work has a purity, a peace, a connection with the silence of the divine. It would be easy to overlook it, or underestimate it.

A contemplative and a hermit as much as a poet, his poetry arose from the silence of his heart.

A deeply spiritual man, he led a contemplative life, spending much time in solitude. He enjoyed a dear friendship with the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, keeping in touch through their letters. 

Read more, including a link to his biography.

i.
he sat
on the edge of his bed
all night

day came
& he continued to sit there

he thought he would never be able
to understand
what had happened

— Robert Lax

Zen and the art of poetry.

About poetry is the first of a new series of audio talks about poetry (my own, and other Zen poetry) on Patreon.

Hear me talk today about the story behind my poetry writing, the creative process, and read a number of my earlier haiku, monoku and other Zen poems.

The audio is a little raw, as is the approach, it was a spontaneous recording.

Grab a cup of good tea and listen.

Let the moonlight leak.

Although the wind
blows terribly here,
the moonlight also leaks
between the roof planks
of this ruined house.

— Awakening poem by Izumi Shikibu

“The moon in Japanese poetry is always the moon; often it is also the image of Buddhist awakening.

This poem reminds that if a house is walled so tightly that it lets in no wind or rain, if a life is walled so tightly that it lets in no pain, grief, anger, or longing, it will also be closed to the entrance of what is most wanted.”

— Jane Hirshfield

As one living through grief right now, I reside in this house. May the planks of my roof and walls always be loose.

May the breeze blow gently through and the moonlight fall softly around the place.

Be a beginner.

I've been a beginner since before the beginning. An amateur, a novice, an unsui, I can't learn what I do, it can't be studied, or taught. It can't be known, or unknown.

So, when you come to me and say “show me how to write like that” I can give you no method, other than put down your pen, open your heart, and write.

Speak it, shout it from a roof top, scratch it on a pebble at the beach, draw it in the sand, swim it in the sea, float it downstream in a river, place flowers in the vase and offer them to your Mother, or the Buddha, and if you have breath left to hear it, know that this is how I write.

More…

Words made of truth take shape in ink, and planting their seeds, throw caution to the wind.

Silent illumination.

Forest sitting, SW Portugal.

The ocean is looking for the ocean and mistaking itself for a wave.

Buddha is looking for Buddha.

Haiku poetry books for sale.

I'm selling a few used / as new haiku poetry books that I have duplicate copies of:

Title: Seeds from a Birch Tree
Author: Clark Strand
Price: £20.00
Shipping: £5.00 EU / £7.50 US

Title: Haiku Seasons: Poetry of the Natural World
Author: William J Higginson
Price: £15.00
Shipping: £5.00 EU / £7.50 US

Title: Writing and Enjoying Haiku
Author: Jane Reichold
Price: £7.50
Shipping: £5.00 EU / £7.50 US

Get in touch if you would like to purchase via PayPal and I'll send you a PayPal payment request.

In love with the way.

Herding the ox.

In Zen, there is a spiritual roadmap, called “Herding the Ox”.

This is my life's journey, and is never ending.

It can never complete.

Cyclically, it repeats.

Read more…

Anything I can say or write is worthless, better to listen to the wind.

If I write poetry, know that even this is written by the wind, the trees, the mountains and rivers.

This is my unbroken, boundless lineage. Trust that, not me.

“If you're afraid of being grabbed by God, don't look at a wall. Definitely don't sit still.
— Zen Master Jiyu-Kennett

Be still and know

Wherever you are, stop, be still, and know.

Meditation

Meditation needn’t be spiritual.
It can simply be stopping.
Sitting.
The absence of all striving.

quiet places

in quiet places
we sit and wait
for silence to tell us
what we already know

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.”
— Rumi

Bird shadows.

Thoughts are nothing more than bird shadows.

Ephemeral and swiftly passing.

Nothing to grasp, or to be grasped by.

Sit with me.

In person, on Skype, here in Portugal, or anywhere else, by arrangement. 

Our true nature.

A spontaneous quiet talk and contemplation, with silence and meditation.