~Zen Mountain~

hey nin~
<bigrin>

wrote this at dueling samurai and wanted to play with it.



If there is opposition and disagreement
is there discourse and conflict
or enlightenment and understanding
that there is more than one ...
path

If one calls it red
and another maroon
is this a reason for a duel at high noon?
Like a challenge is laid
to make the other see it their way.
variation of colors dips in the grey
One usually just gives up
and says, "Okay!"
 
I hate to interrupt, but could y'all answer a relatively stupid question?

What is "good" poetry? Almost everyone can write poetry, but what makes it good?

I'm desperately trying to figure that out. I have read a few that were deemed "excellent" and I just didn't get the poem itself, much less what made it great. :confused:

I didn't think I was a complete idiot, but I'm beginning to question that, lol.
 
angelicminx said:
I hate to interrupt, but could y'all answer a relatively stupid question?

What is "good" poetry? Almost everyone can write poetry, but what makes it good?

I'm desperately trying to figure that out. I have read a few that were deemed "excellent" and I just didn't get the poem itself, much less what made it great. :confused:

I didn't think I was a complete idiot, but I'm beginning to question that, lol.


Hmmm. very good question.

what makes a "good sunset?" Or a "good painting?"

The main questions i would ask is, Does it touch you? Does it move you? Does it open up and new world for you, or at least help you understand the your own world a little better?

Do the words and the rhythm of the poem please you?

Is is angelic? Or full of daimons? Do the words fall into place well in the poem and do they fall into your heart?

Do you LOVE it? Do you want to share it with friends?

or is it just a poem?
 
angelicminx said:
I hate to interrupt, but could y'all answer a relatively stupid question?

What is "good" poetry? Almost everyone can write poetry, but what makes it good?

I'm desperately trying to figure that out. I have read a few that were deemed "excellent" and I just didn't get the poem itself, much less what made it great. :confused:

I didn't think I was a complete idiot, but I'm beginning to question that, lol.


Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...write what is in your heart, write what you feel. Live beyond the surface... and use a thesaurus. ;)
 
Sabina_Tolchovsky said:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...write what is in your heart, write what you feel. Live beyond the surface... and use a thesaurus. ;)

what is a thesarus, a dinasour that knows poetry, <grin>
how do you make this work for you?
 
In the stillness by the empty window
I sit in formal meditation wearing my monk’s surplice,
Navel and nose in alignment
Ears parallel with shoulders.
Moonlight floods the room;
The rain stops, but the eaves drip and drip.
Perfect this moment
In the vast emptiness, my understanding deepens.

- Ryokan Taigu (1758-1831)
 
good morning

the sun spreads paint
over the sleeping sky
red golden pink
brushing clouds
seeking to wake the world
I look on this day
with new eyes
bear not the weight of the days chores
live in this momment
and watch the sun rise.
~S
 
Sabina_Tolchovsky said:
the sun spreads paint
over the sleeping sky
red golden pink
brushing clouds
seeking to wake the world
I look on this day
with new eyes
bear not the weight of the days chores
live in this momment
and watch the sun rise.
~S

Thank you S~
very way or wake up in a zen day!
 
Words fall on paper
leaving trails of thoughts
trapped.

Ideas hurdle across the room,
confining No Mind to This MInd.

Silence falls, and nurtures
mind and soul, while words
and ideas play in the mud.
 
arctic-stranger said:
Words fall on paper
leaving trails of thoughts
trapped.

Ideas hurdle across the room,
confining No Mind to This MInd.

Silence falls, and nurtures
mind and soul, while words
and ideas play in the mud.

thank you my Zen friend~

Mind the Stone
that sharpens the mind
a used tool needs
it's sharpening time.

I dabbled in a thought
that was about my life,
found my self wrestling
within my own mind.

Like sawing at wood
with a dull knife
I just couldn't focus
to cut this turmoil inside.

So I closed my eyes
and drew a deep breath
drawing on all that I
have learned until now.

Then released it slowly
like an unraveling knot
I pushed as much of me
out of the air that I could.

I drew a deeper breath
that drove into my mind
like a blade across stone
the thought that grinds.

I pushed the air out
that forged before me
like the minds hone,
mentally sharpening.

My eyes still closed
another breath I drew
like a newborn's first
I open my eyes, new.

Facing the world
in which I have grown
I see more clearly
when I Mind the Stone.
 
beautiful

words to wake up to ~ET~ ~AS~..am having to find time to glaze this thread to see whats already been posted...as not to repeat...have a great day...blue

Meister Eckhart
If only you could suddenly be unaware of all things, then you could pass into an oblivion of your own body.

What a man takes in by contemplation, he pours out in love.

Whatever thou sayest of God is untrue :rose:
 
"Too many of us today want instant gratification.... We want reward without work. We want the thinking done for us. We want to understand something right away or we can't be bothered. This attitude demeans the accomplishments of those who are true masters."
P.T. Sudo
 
Don't be afraid of who you are
To find yourself don't look far
for you are closer than a star
and not always what you are.
 
Every one is 3 people ...
who strangers, family and friends see you as~
who you see your self as~
and who you really are!
 
For Art....

The Daffodil Principle

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say,
"Mother, you must come to see the daffodils
before they are over."

I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive
from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.
"I will come next Tuesday", I promised
a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had
promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I
finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed
by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly
hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible
in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the
world except you and these children that I want to see
badly enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said,
"We drive in this all the time, Mother."

"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears,
and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage
to pick up my car."

"How far will we have to drive?"

"Oh...just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "But I'll drive.
I'm used to this."

After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where are we
going? This isn't the way to the garage!"

"We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled,
"by way of the daffodils."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around."

"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never
forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto
a small gravel road and I saw a small church.

On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign
with an arrow that read, "Daffodil Garden."
We got out of the car, each took a child's hand,
and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then,
as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped.

Before me lay the most glorious sight.
It looked as though someone had taken
a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak
and it's surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted
in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths
of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink,
and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety
was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed
like its own river with its own unique hue.
There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn.

"Just one woman," Carolyn answered.
"She lives on the property. That's her home."

Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house,
small, and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory.
We walked up to the house

On the patio, we saw a poster.
"Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking"
was the headline.

The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read.
The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman,
two hands, two feet, and one brain."

The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience.
I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who,
more than forty years before, had begun,
one bulb at a time,
to bring her vision of beauty and joy
to an obscure mountaintop.

Planting one bulb at a time,
year after year,
this unknown woman had forever changed
the world in which she lived.

One day at a time,
she had created something of extraordinary
magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught
is one of the greatest principles of celebration.
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires
one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--
and learning to love the doing, learning to use
the accumulation of time.

When we multiply tiny pieces of time
with small increments of daily effort,
we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things.
We can change our world.

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn.
"What might I have accomplished if I had thought of
a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago
and had worked away at it
'one bulb at a time' through all those years?
Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day
in her usual direct way.
"Start tomorrow," she said.

She was right.
It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays.
The way to make learning a lesson of celebration
instead of a cause for regret is to only ask,
"How can I put this to use today?"

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....
Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die....

There is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
So work like you don't need money...
Love like you've never been hurt...
and Dance like no one's watching....

smiling.. Du~
 
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