If I should live long,
Then perhaps the present days
May be dear to me,
Just as past time filled with grief
Comes quietly back in thought.
~Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
Initially posted on October 9, 2017
butterfly
art of seeing xix
the butterfly —
its face is the same
as a caterpillar’s
~Tsuji Momoko
cited: Makoto Ueda, Far Beyond the Field
Nikon D750 f/5.6 1/1000s 85mm 800 ISO
art of seeing — dark figure on light ground 10 of 10
past times…
If I should live long,
Then perhaps the present days
May be dear to me,
Just as past time filled with grief
Comes quietly back in thought.
~Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
model 1951
Oh butterfly
What are you dreaming of
When you move your wings ~Chiyo-Ni
100 days…95th day
Song of Chugen
My parents departed long ago.
How often I grieve in sadness!
I had only two aunts left:
…
Last year I went to Kyoto and sobbed.
This year I moved to the shore of a lake and river.
My grief multiplies as I move through space and seasons.
…
Monks perform an urabon ceremony* after cleaning the temple.
The chanting of sad voices resounds to the red banners.
Then a cool breeze arrives;
cleansing and darkening showers merge with the dust.
Rain over, plantain shadow under the leaning sun-
the spirit of my father appears before me.
After the ceremony I return to the monks’ quarters,
making a silent dedication for his liberation:
“Spirit, do not stay sunk forever.
Quickly prepare a boat and cross to the other shore.”
~Ryokan**
*Since the early days of Buddhism,
the Urabon Ceremony is a time set aside
for people to pray for the
peace and happiness of the deceased.
**cited:
Sky Above, Great Wind
Trans: K Tanahashi
100 days…73rd day
If someone asks
about the mind of this monk,
say it is no more than
a passage of wind
in the vast sky.
~Ryokan*
*cited:
Sky Above, Great Wind
Trans: K Tanahashi
100 days…67th day
Children,
let’s go to the mountain
to view violets.
If they scatter away tomorrow,
what can we do?
~Ryokan*
*cited:
Sky Above, Great Wind
Trans: K Tanahashi
