EXTRA N FOR NUTS: HAIKU AND GODSIB AND GOSSIP 11

EXTRA N FOR NUTS: HAIKU

 

Peace and compassion

Cannon hide in the Canon

Blood path in Paris

 

NB

The first poem in my second book is “Canon and Cannon”, for it is the most widely read poem in my blog, for reasons not known to me. Yet no reader has queried the silence of “cannon” in that short poem.  The above haiku will break that silence.

 

GODSIB AND GOSSIP 11

I asked the young lass “Tell me in few words, from your heart, what Buddhism is? Please don’t quote from the books or master”. She replied “Learning.” I request her to elaborate. She remarked “learning to be a better human being.” “You mean educating one to be a better human being; or to bring out the best qualities of a being, meaning consciousness.” Indeed, if one could not be a decent being, how to label oneself as a disciple of this or that religion (re afresh, ligare to link, bond).The label is not the essence; the living religion is.

A Chinese monk, Master Taixu (1890-1947) once wrote that when personhood was fully cultivated and developed, enlightenment could then be attained. In other words, learn to be decent human being, before one plays the role of God.