Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #81 Looking Back

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first day of our new Carpe Diem Haiku Kai month. We have had a wonderful month full of Tan Renga Challenges (TRC) and it was awesome to create those challenges for you. In a way this last month we have done it really together and that makes me proud, humble and happy. I think our TRC-month has made our CDHK-bond stronger and that's awesome.

As I started with CDHK back in 2012 I couldn't have known that we would be here in 2016 alive and kicking. I am really a proud host and that's all through all of your energy. You all are giving me only positive energy and that gives me the strength to keep going. Thank you !

I love to look back for a while, just to contemplate .... how strong our CDHK-family has become.

like a family
you my dear friends I embrace -
unconditional love
shared by a bunch of haiku poets
from all over the world

© Chèvrefeuille

At the start of this year we had a nice month full of classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for winter. And in February Hamish "Managua" Gunn created all the posts themed "senses". He also was our featured haiku poet for that mont. So basically he wrote all our CDHK posts.

Hamish won the "winter" kukai with the following haiku:

midwinternight
a dark sky's lights dance
in the wolf's eyes

© Hamish

In February I launched a new feature at CDHK and with that new feature, Carpe Diem's Theme Week, I created a new tradition. That first Theme Week was about Sogyal Rinpoche's "Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" and it became a success. I even could create an exclusive CDHK e-book about that Theme Week. It was really awesome to create that Theme Week and it brought wonderful haiku and tanka.

Logo first CDHK-Theme Week

Our second Theme Week "Color Your Life" was about the (deeper) meaning of the rainbow colors and that also brought beautiful haiku and tanka. 

Of course there was the discussion about publishing permission which resulted in the creation of a publishing policy, the most sad thing I ever had to do for CDHK. Through that discussion we lost a few great and gifted haiku poets, but that was their choice.

In March we tried our hand on writing haiku "In The Way of Basho", an awesome month in which we explored the Haiku Writing Techniques used by Basho (1644-1694) together with our beloved co-host Jane Reichhold. I first loved to create an exclusive CDHK e-book about this special month, but after that publishing discussion we had, I decided to don't create that e-book.

In April we had another special month in which we tried our hand on that beautiful art form Haiga (haiku and image), or Tank-art (tanka and image).

Haiga by Chèvrefeuille

The Theme Week of April was titled "Magnolia Blossoms" and was all about the beautiful haiku by Soseki Natsume, a contemporary of Shiki, and it was a joy to create that Theme Week. I wasn't familiar with Soseki's haiku, but through that Theme Week I discovered his beautiful work and it was really wonderful to share that beauty with you all. Again an exclusive CDHK e-book saw the light of life after that Theme Week.

As I started this Tokubetsudesu episode I already said that we have had a wonderful Tan Renga Challenges month and I will soon make an exclusive CDHK e-book, in which I have gathered all the posts and responses of this TRC-month, titled "Chained Together" available at our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

To conclude this Tokubetsudesu episode in May we had another wonderful Theme Week in which we explored the beauty and strength of the Latifa Prayer.

And now ... we are going on a ginko through the countries of the European Unity. I am looking forward to all what is going to happen in June. Of course we will have our CD-Specials (Joyce Lorenson) and a special Tokubetsudesu (Milan Rajkumar). I also will bring back a few special features the Utabukuro feature and the weekly Tan Renga Challenge. And of course there will be a new Theme Week. This month our Theme Week is about "Ascension" ...

Well ... I don't have something else to tell .... this Tokubetsudesu episode I looked back and I only can say:

"It was awesome!"

Thank you all for being part in this wonderful adventure of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, a daily haiku meme. The place to be if you like to write and share haiku. Maybe you know other haiku poets who would like to participate ... feel free to invite them to be part of this adventure.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host.

PS. I do not add a linking widget this time, but if you would like to respond. Please feel free to do that through the comment field.

Chèvrefeuille, your host

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 31st: a haiku by Basho "the flowers of the tide"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's with a bit of sadness that I present to you our last episode of our Tan Renga Challenge (TRC) Month. It was really a joy to make this month and you all have written wonderful completions. Thank you for participating in this TRC month.

For our last episode I have a nice "hokku" by Basho. We started with him and we end with him ... By the way Basho was a great renga master so this month was also a tribute to him ... and you all were great.
I hope to create an e-book about this beautiful and challenging TRC month very soon.

Next month we will go on a so called ginko, a journey, through Europe. I hope to see you again.

Okay back to our "hokku" for today:

do not doubt it,
the bay has its spring too,
the flowers of the tide

© Basho (1644-1694)

Bay

A nice "hokku" to start this Tan Renga with I would say ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 4th at noon (CET). I will post our first episode of our new CDHK month, a Tokubetsudesu episode, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 30th: "rumbling winter storms" by Paloma

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at this penultimate episode of Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge Month. Today I have a nice "hokku" written by one of our family members, Paloma. So we have a nice modern "hokku" to "play with".

Here is Paloma's "hokku", she wrote this one in December 2013:

Rumbling winter storm –
Ents are dancing with their wives –
ancient limbs entwined

© Paloma

I hadn't time enough to create a second stanza, but maybe I will come up with something later today.

Ent (figure from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) by Mazagro-Art

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 3rd at noon (CET). I will publish our last "hokku" on our Twitter account.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 29th: "a single frosty rose" by Mizuhara Shuoshi (1892-1981)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I have a nice "hokku" of a "classical" haiku poet for you. I had never heard of him, but I ran accidentally to a haiku by him and I liked that haiku very much. Let me introduce to you Mizuhara Shuoshi.

Mizuhara Shuoshi (1892-1981) was a 20th century Japanese poet who was responsible for a trend towards greater emotional expression in haiku.
Shuoshi was the son of a doctor who ran a medical clinic, and as eldest son, he followed in his father’s footsteps and went into medicine. He studied serology, obstetrics, and gynecology at Tokyo University, graduating in 1926. He taught at Showa Medical College, practiced in his father’s clinic, and in 1932 was appointed to the prestigious post of medical advisor to the Ministry of the Imperial Household.
He began writing tanka and haiku as an undergraduate. In the 1920s, he was published in Hototogisu and his poetry was acclaimed. However, he felt restricted by the conservative principles of Takahama Kyoshi and his followers and declared his defection in a 1931 essay, "Truth in Nature and Truth in Literature". Unlike many poets, who rebelled against the rules like the 17 syllable count, Shuoshi instead felt that Kyoshi’s principles of emotional detachment limited his ability to emotionally express himself through poetry. Shuoshi and his followers started a magazine called Staggerbush and dedicated themselves to a more romantic, lyrical type of haiku.
Shuoshi retired from medicine in 1952 and began a series of visits to Buddhist temples. During his life, he published around 20 volumes of haiku. 

Mizuhara Shuoshi (1892-1981)

Before I give you our "hokku" for todays Tan Renga Challenge I love to share a few other haiku written by Mizuhara Shuoshi:

 

woodpecker—
leaves quickly fall
in the meadow

Japanese rain
on the cherry blossoms
moistens his statue

singing skylark...
against the wind blowing through pines,
has descended

lion-dance dancer
shading his eyes with his hand to look
at Mt. Fuji in the sunset

Color of Spring, lion dance at the mansion (woodblock-print by Utagawa Kuniaki (1844-1868))

Mizuhara Shuoshi wrote a lot of haiku and tanka as you could read above. The haiku I shared here are really beautiful, but the one we are going to use is in my opinion a masterpiece, but that's just my humble opinion.

Here is our "hokku" by Mizuhara Shuoshi:

A new year begins
With the blooming
Of a single frosty rose

© Mizuhara Shuoshi

A nice "hokku" to start our Tan Renga with. Here is my attempt to make this Tan Renga complete:

A new year begins
With the blooming
Of a single frosty rose                               (Mizuhara Shuoshi)

clouds of breath pointing the way
towards the old Shinto shrine                      (Chèvrefeuille)

Not as strong as I had hoped. I also don't know for sure if the breath you can see when it is cold is called "clouds of breath".

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 2nd at noon (CET). I will publish our new "hokku" on our Twitter account.

 

Carpe Diem Extra May 27th 2016 Kukai "New Life" the results

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy I have the results of our "New Life" kukai. In this kukai eight (8) haiku poets have submitted a total of 22 haiku ... all beauties if I may say, but of course there can be only one winner and a "runner-up". The voting closed May 24th at 10.00 PM (CET) and now I have the results for you:

With a total of nine (9) points Joyce Joslin Lorenson (whom was featured in our second "In the Spotlight" episode) is our winner of the "New Life" kukai. Congratulations Joyce. Joyce won with the following haiku:

spring blossoms

bees carrying
new life to the hive 

© Joyce Joslin Lorenson

Joyce Joslin Lorenson

And our "runner-up" with eight (8) points is Milan Rajkumar with his haiku, congratulations Milan: 

lifeless for a season

pupa inside the cocoon
spring gives life and wings

© Milan Rajkumar

Milan Rajkumar

As you all (maybe) know as the winner you get the opportunity to create an e-book together with Chèvrefeuille's Publications and edited by Chèvrefeuille. So Joyce ... as the winner of our "New Life" kukai you have won the opportunity to create an e-book and you will be our featured haiku poetess next month (June). As the "runner-up" Milan Rajkumar will be featured in one of the Tokubetsudesu episode next month (June).

Here are the results for all submitted haiku:

9 points : haiku 4
8 points : haiku 10
6 points : haiku 6
5 points : haiku 11 & 21
3 points : haiku 15, 16, 17, 19 & 20
2 points : haiku 5 & 12
1 point :  haiku 2 & 18
0 points : haiku 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14 & 22

It was really a pleasure to host this "New Life" kukai for you all.

Prayer(s) (image found on Flickr)

Here is our new kukai:

As you all know in our last Theme Week we have explored that beautiful Sufism prayer the "Latifa Prayer". That Theme Week inspired me to create the next kukai:

PRAYER(S)

As you all know you can submit a maximum of three (3) new (never published earlier) haiku for the kukai. Please send your submissions to our e-mail address: carpediemhaikukai@gmail.com don't forget to write kukai "prayer" in the subject-line.

This new kukai "Prayer" is now open for your submissions and will be open until June 20th 10.00 PM (CET). 

I am looking forward to all of your beautiful haiku themed "prayer" or related to "prayer"

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 28th: "temple in the sky" by Ubugu

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

May 2016 is running towards its end and we have only four (4) days to go before we start our new Carpe Diem month June. You can find the prompt-list for June 2016 above in the menu or by clicking HERE.

I enjoy this month very much, because of the idea that we are making this month really together through completing Tan Renga. Because Tan Renga you all like I will bring back our weekly Tan Renga Challenge on Fridays, so after this month you don't need to miss it. By the way I recently created a new part of our CDHK family, "Chained Together", a new weblog about Tan Renga.

Okay back to today's episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month. Today I have a nice "hokku" created by Ubugu (penname of Robert Gibson, whom was featured in our first episode of "In The Spotlight"). Ubugu created a nice haiku inspired on the Latifa Prayer, but I saw his haiku again after the publishing of our new e-book about the Latifa Prayer, so his haiku wasn't included in that e-book. So I wish to say sorry to Ubugu: "My excuses for this Ubugu". I decided, as a kind of peace offering, to bring it here as the "hokku" of our new Tan Renga Challenge.

Ubugu (penname of Robert Gibson)

Here is his "hokku":

temple in the sky
the road opens
a slice of blue sea

© Ubugu (penname of Robert Gibson)

Ubugu wrote in his email a little explanation for this haiku which I love to share here with you too:

[...] "Your latest prompt,The Latifa Prayer, has my mind so dancing and pondering.

Because I value the reader, I usually don't footnote my offerings. This allows them the freedom to make my words theirs. That said, today I bend that rule.  Below was my very first haiku, inspired by the childhood memory of my first seeing the sea. To me, it addressed the wonder and vastness of our world underpinned by incomprehensible wonders whisper-hinted to our imagination. The succinct beauty of the Latifa Prayer, for me at least, is cut from the same cloth. Reading it for the first time (thanks to you), I sensed connectivity.

I was eight years old when the experience of the aura above the sea and the sea got salted away; took fifty years to distill into this haiku." [...]

"Temple In The Sky"

It took me some time to create my second stanza to this "hokku", but I finally came up with something.

temple in the sky
the road opens
a slice of blue sea                                         (Ubugu)

heat dances above the horizon
childhood memories come to mind           (Chèvrefeuille)

I think this second stanza fits the scene and maybe Ubugu's story inspired me, but I have some wonderful childhood memories ...

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 1st at noon (CET). I will publish our new "hokku" on our Twitter account.

Carpe Diem Extra (2) May 26th Summer edition Souchou

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Souchou, our own e-zine will be published around July 15th. If you would like to be published in this 'summer'-edition than you can submit your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form to carpediemhaikukaisouchou@gmail.com before July 1st 10.00 pm (CET). Please write 'souchou summer, in the subject line.

I am looking forward to your submissions.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host and editor of Souchou.

Carpe Diem Extra May 26th New exclusive CDHK e-book

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that our new exclusive CDHK e-book Latifa Prayer, based on the Theme Week of this month is ready for download.

You can find this new e-book in the left side of our Haiku Kai. I hope you all will like this new e-book. Happy reading!

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 27th: "such a still water" by Tan Taigi (1709 -1771)

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is a pleasure to bring a new episode of Tan Renga Challenge Month to you. This time I have chosen for a haiku by a classical haiku poet named Tan Taigi (1709-1771), a contemporary of Yosa Buson. Tan Taigi and Buson by the way were friends and Buson created several haiga inspired on the poems by Tan Taigi.

Let me first tell you a little bit more about Tan Taigi.

Tan Taigi was a haiku poet of the mid-Edo-period. At the age of 40 he became a priest at the temple Daitoku-Ji in Kyoto. Later in his life, he stayed in a hermitage called Fuya-An (Hermitage with no night) in the precincts of the courtesan pleasure quarters Shimabara in 1748 and lived as a friend of Yosa Buson. He liked to socialize and drink sake and used to say

"When praying to Buddha I write haiku, when praying to the Shinto gods I write haiku".

Because of his heavy drinking he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died in the Year 1771. He is buried at the temple Korin-ji in Kyoto.

Daitoku-Ji temple Kyoto

Here is the "hokku" by Tan Taigi to reform into a Tan Renga by adding the second stanza of two lines of approx. 7-7 syllables. You have to use the scene, images or associations you have with the "hokku".

Such a still water
even the dragonfly
splash it with the tail

© Tan Taigi (Tr. Gabi Greve)

As I first read this haiku I had some trouble to understand the scene, but after a while and re-reading it again I think the understanding came. So here is my attempt to create a Tan Renga of this "hokku".

such a still water
even the dragonfly
splash it with the tail                            (Tan Taigi)

throwing flat pebbles across
circles get bigger and smaller               (Chèvrefeuille)

Not as strong as I had hoped, but in a way I like the scene as it turns into the movement of the water.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 31st at noon (CET). I will publish our new "hokku" on our Twitter account.

PS.: As you maybe have noticed I have taken away a few of the CDHK e-books from our homepage. You can find them now in our CDHK Library 

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 26th: "silence" by Jane Reichhold

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First this ... I was a bit confused I think, because I published a Tan Renga Challenge yesterday instead of a Tokubetsudesu episode, my excuses for that, but this week we will not have a Tokubetsudesu episode. Sorry.

Today I have a nice "hokku" for you created by our co-host in the background, Jane Reichhold. You all will certainly know her I think. You can find a lot abou her by visiting her website AHA-poetry.

Here is the "hokku" for today's Tan Renga Challenge:

silence
in the blind wind's dance
blossoms

© Jane Reichhold

A beauty I will say, but also a challenge to create the second stanza.

Cherry Blossoms in the Evening

Here is my attempt to create a second stanza to make this Tan Renga complete:


silence
in the blind wind's dance
blossoms                                    (Jane Reichhold)

admiring the cherry blossoms
lying naked on a deer skin         (Chèvrefeuille)

I like this completion, as I looked at that beautiful image above a haibun I once wrote came in mind.


This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until May 30th at noon (CET). I will publish our new "hokku", this time one by a classical haiku poet/ess, on our Twitter account.

 

Magnolia Blossoms, haiku by Soseki Natsume.

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's with great joy that I can announce to you all that I have finished a new exclusive Carpe Diem Haiku Kai e-book. In this e-book "Magnolia Blossoms" I have gathered all the posts and responses on our third Theme Week "Magnolia Blossoms, haiku by Soseki Natsume".

This new e-book is now available for download at the right side of our Kai. I hope you will like this new e-book.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host

Carpe Diem Extra May 24th Color Your Life

Dear Haijin,

Recently I made our new e-book, Color Your Life, available, but as I downloaded the e-book myself, as I always do with our e-books to check it, I saw that several images weren't visible. I love to hear from you if you have the same problems. If so please let me know than I can correct it.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 25th:

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Yesterday we had a nice "hokku" by Janice, one of our CDHK family members, so today I have chosen for a "hokku" created by a classical haiku poet, Miura Chora (penname: Chora)

Miura Chora (1729 – 1780) was a Japanese poet raised in Ise, in the Mie Prefecture of Shima Province on the island of Honshu, Japan. He traveled throughout the country composing poems and helped lead the Matsuo Bashō revival movement of the eighteenth century.

Here is the "hokku" for todays Tan Renga Challenge:

the shrine
in the sacred grove:
a cool wind blows 

© Chora 

Sacred Grove

A nice "hokku" to start this Tan Renga with ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 29th at noon (CET). I will publish our next "hokku" on our Twitter Account. Have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 24th: "ancient walls" by Janice 'Petra Domina' Adcock

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Tan Renga Challenge Month ... what a joy to make this month and what a wonderful completions I have read. I am a real fan of Tan Renga and I always try to create them in the best possible way, but of course my ideas are sometimes stranger than others ... That's however the beauty of being human. We are all unique in our own way and that makes Carpe Diem Haiku Kai a great family.

Speaking about our CDHK family ... today I have a nice "hokku" created by Janice 'Petra Domina' Adcock. Janice is already several years part of our CDHK family and she is a very gifted poetess.

Here is Janice's "hokku" for todays Tan Renga:

ancient walls
covered in parables
speak to those who see

© Janice 'Petra Domina' Adcock

Janice wrote this haiku in response on our first episode of the Latifa Prayer with it came a beautiful photo made by Janice too. (See that photo HERE) 

ancient walls
covered in parables
speak to those who see              (Janice Adcock)

Lascaux's painted caves
echoes from a faraway life        (Chèvrefeuille)

Cave painting of a horse in Lascaux

It was a joy to create this episode and I hope I have inspired you to complete the Tan Renga with your unique creativity ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 29th at noon (CET). I will publish our new "hokku" on our Twitter account.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 23rd: "one step outside" by Tagami Kikusha

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Sorry for this belated episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month. During the nightshift I can not always publish on time.

Today I have a nice "hokku" for you by a classical haiku poetess, Tagami Kikusha (1753-1826)

one step outside
the temple gate, its Japan --
a tea picker's song

© Tagami Kikusha

Tagami Kikusha

 

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 28th at noon (CET). I will publish our new "hokku" on our Twitter account.

Carpe Diem Extra May 23rd 2016 New CDHK e-book available

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

During lack of time I will publish our new episode in our Tan Renga Challenge month later on today. I have spend a lot of time to create our new exclusive CDHK E-book of our second Theme Week "Color Your Life", about the colors of the Rainbow.

This new exclusive CDHK E-book is Now Available for download at the left of our Kai. I hope you all will like it.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host

Carpe Diem Theme Week #4 (7 ): Latifa Prayer lines 6 & 7: "I love" and "I am prepared"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I don't know what went wrong, but I have still two lines for this last episode of our 4th Theme Week about the Latifa Prayer, that powerful and wonderful Sufi prayer with roots in Islam. So I have (again) a "double" episode, sorry for that.

Introduction:

The first line I love to share here of this "double" episode is "I Love". What is Love? I think its an energy that "sleeps" deep down in our heart, waiting to come to bloom. Love we have in several meanings. Love as in loving another human for his / her inner beauty (and outer beauty), an unconditional love I mean in this case. But there is also something we call love, but is more about sex without that unconditional love ... just because someone needs to have sex.

I think in the Latifa Prayer it's about that first kind of love, unconditonal love for all and everything. That love stays a mystery ... you can not go on a quest for that kind of love .... that kind of love overcomes you unexpected.

lotus flowers
rising from the depths of the pond
everlasting love
like a river flows onwards
uncertain of its goal

© Chèvrefeuille

Love is about your deepest desires, let your heart speak ... and not your mind.

The last line of the Latifa Prayer "I am prepared" connects you to all and everyone around, it connects you with the desires you want. I will connect you to your Higher Self.

Earlier this week I told you that there is a kind of Latifa Prayer Meditation and I love to share that meditation here with you. It's an easy way to meditate and it will make you happy or happier than you already are.

Meditation

Latifa Prayer Meditation:

Are you ready? Are you relaxed and in a nice comfortable position? Let me take you ... into the Latifa Prayer Meditation. As I am doing this meditation I always play relaxing music like e.g. the music of Karunesh . Just relaxation music. I am not a guy that sits in the "meditation-position" I love to lean back against the wall or lay down on the couch or my bed.
First I start to regulate my breathing to open my energy fields, my chakras. This takes mostly a few minutes. Than starts the Latifa Prayer Meditation:

1. At first you place your right hand on your left flank by the help of your left hand.  Always use your left hand to help your right hand. Than you say out loud: I exist. You breathe steady and softly and think about the reason why you exist. Questions will appear in your mind. Answer them.

2. Bring (by the help of your left hand), your right hand to your right flank. Say to yourself: I desire. Think about the things you desire and be aware.

3. Bring your right hand to your left lung. Say to yourself: I hope. Think about all the things you wish and want in life. Because of this you are going to be able to make space in your mind.

4. Bring your right hand to your right lung. Say out loud: I believe and I trust.  Believe and trust will make you stronger and will help you to let go of your hope and be certain about the things you doubt.

5. Place your right hand on your neck. Say: I let go. This area consists of all the things you keep to yourself like sadness, anger and your own voice. Because of letting these things slip out of your mind, you will breath better. Thinking of your own believes helps you to achieve this exercise.

6. Place your right hand on the centre of your chest. Tell yourself: I love. Loving is one of the strongest and purest feelings we have. Give your heart a chance to speak. Bring out your deepest desires.

7. To finish the prayer you bring your right hand above your bellybutton. Place your left hand on top of it and say the words: I am prepared. Being prepared will connect you with your own voice. The things you want and desire. (Source)

I hope you liked this meditation and of course that it has brought you positive energy.

 

(video by: LiLoveLi )

My response:

For my response on this episode I ran through my archives and gathered a few haiku which fit the theme of this episode:
 

dervishes whirling
seeking a higher consciousness -
third eye opens
© Chèvrefeuille

chanting their mantra
broomstick and rake in hand
true meditation
© Chèvrefeuille


the moon is rising
silvery waves resonate
in tune with my heart
© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... this was our fourth Carpe Diem Theme Week, I hope you did like this week.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 26th at noon (CET). Have fun. !! Next month our Fifth Theme Week is titled "Ascension" !!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 22nd: "on a windless day" by Cheryl Lynn (a.k.a. Tournesol)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

My excuses (again) for being this late with publishing our new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month. I am in the nightshift, so time is a bit different.

Yesterday we had a "hokku" by Hando, a classical haiku poet, and today I have a nice "hokku" by one of our own CDHK family members. Today I have chosen a "hokku" by Tournesol. Tournesol is the penname of Cheryl Lynn, a very gifted haiku poetess. Tournesol is a long time member of our Kai and she has really gorgeous haiku written.

Here is our "hokku" for today:

on a windless day
six circles take shape
a pebble skips

© Tournesol

six circles take shape

This "hokku" brought nice memories ... As a little child I liked throwing pebbles in the water and I remember that my dad learned me to let those flat pebbles bounce on water ... yeah sweet memories.

on a windless day
sic circles take shape
a pebble skips                              (Tournesol)

sweet memories rise up
smiles and tears in battle              (Chèvrefeuille)

A nice response I would say, but that's not up to me to say.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 27th at noon (CET). Our new "hokku" you can find already on our Twitter account.

Delayed posts

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Our new posts are delayed ... my excuses for this inconvinience.

Your host

Carpe Diem Theme Week #4 (5 & 6): Latifa Prayer lines 4 & 5 "I believe and I trust" & "I let go"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Yesterday I told you all that I hadn't time enough to create a new episode for our Theme Week therefore today I love to share two episodes in one. So in this episode we will look at line 4 and 5 respectively: "I believe and I trust" and "I let go".

Introduction:

Both lines are in the middle of the Latifa Prayer and that's no coincidence I think, because these two lines belong (in a way) together.  To "let go", you have to "believe and trust" that it will become okay. Without believe and trust you cannot let go. Why?

I will give it a try to explain that thought to you. Let me give you an example: "My grandson was bullied for a long time at his school. It hurt him that much that he had a time that he tried not to go to school or as he was bullied he ran away from school. One day, while he had to be at school, he stood for my home. (We live in the close surroundings of his school). He was crying and he was angry. He told me of the bullying. I just listened to his story and than I tried to analyze (together with him) what was happening at times he was bullied? He told me that he (mostly) started with yelling to the bullies or that he ran to his teacher to tell them what was going on".

And this is what I finally told him. "You have to ignore those bullies than they will have no fun with bullying". My grandson looked at me. "How can I do that? How do I ignore them?" "As they are saying things to you you walk away with head held high. You have to be proud on yourself, because you are special and they don't know that, but you do". Than he was a little while silent and I saw how his mind was "running". Than there was the smile, that beautiful strong and proud smile. "Thank you granddad I think I do understand what you have said. As I believe and trust in an on myself than the bullies will leave me and than I can let go and be happy".

From that moment on he was a proud boy and he even started to enjoy school. Of course sometime the bullies tried it again, but they never succeeded in their bullying as they did earlier.

I think this example shows us that we can "let go" the sadness and sorrows of our life just to believe and trust on ourselves and that some Higher power is guiding us.

The Altai Mountains

My response

In a way these two lines make the "I Hope"  line of the Latifa Prayer even stronger than it already is. This shows us (I think) that the Latifa Prayer is a very strong prayer and that's why we may use it. You don't need to say that prayer every day, but the Latifa Prayer meditation you can do easily every day.

Maybe you remember that Mongolian Myth "The Cry of an Eagle" in which an almost the same situation occurs with Maidar. I read that Mongolian Myth again and I enjoyed reading it again. So for my response on this part of the Latifa Prayer I reproduce the haiku from that story here:

whispering leaves
telling all wisdom of the steppes -
cry of an eagle

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... it was a joy again to create these post and I hope I have inspired you. This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until May 25th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Month May 21st: "the mountain stream" by Thomas Hand (penname: Hando)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month. Today I have a nice "hokku" by Hando (penname of Thomas Hand), who was in our history once a featured haiku poet. It wasn't an easy task to find haiku by him, but I had the luck that I have done a few episodes about him somewhere in our CDHK history from which I could choose.

Here is the "hokku":

listening with another
to the music of the mountain stream
here is no other

© Hando

Mountain Stream

And here is my response on this beautiful "hokku" by Hando:

listening with another
to the music of the mountain stream
here is no other                                             (Hando)

the silence becomes deeper
only the rustling of leaves                            (Chèvrefeuille)

Awesome ... a wonderful place to meditate I would say. A place to try the Latifa Prayer meditaion maybe?

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until May 25th at noon (CET). I have published our new "hokku" on our Twitter account. Have fun!