About the Game
The Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that came into being in the 17th century. Its formal limitations are very strict. Three lines, 5-7-5 syllables. Traditionally the subject of a haiku is nature, the seasons. A haiku evokes an experience in the here-and-now. Its directness can bring about a moment of enlightenment.
The game is a fusion of oral tradition: learning texts by heart in order to really become one with them; a western traditional game and a Japanese poetic style.
Playing the game allows groups of people or families to work with ‘human awareness of time and place in the presence of nature’. While playing, people can deepen their understanding of the philosophical ideas behind it. It is a fun way to be together and think.
I started writing haiku during my journey through Japan. My Haiku are written for the people of the 21st century. Our nature is our body and mind. But many of us are losing bodily contact with nature. The urban environment has become the natural habitat for at least two thirds of the world population. This affects us in how we can connect to nature and how we experience ourselves. Is it still possible to feel we are parts of a living cosmos? I believe we must find new roads to the inner worlds which lay hidden under the brick and cement of our urban existence. I hope playing the Haiku Quartet game will contribute to that.
How to Play
The game is played like a traditional game of Quartets. Each player tries to collect sets of four cards, a Quartet. If a player is able to cite the Haiku that he needs, the other players are held to give it to him. The one who gathers the most Quartets, wins.
A Quartet consists of four Haiku dealing with a certain philosophical theme. In the game there are 13 sets, entitled:
| Enlightenment | The Way | Birds |
| Tenderness | Place and Space | Woman – Man |
| Nature | Experiences | Capital |
| Creators | Tokyo | Japan |
| Family |
Haiku Cards
1. Enlightenment
Reaching enlightenment
In Seventeen syllables
Within the three lines.
~
23. Accepting the way:
24. My mother died twice
26. Reaching enlightenment
In Seventeen syllables
Within the three lines.
~
23. Accepting the way:
24. My mother died twice
26. Reaching enlightenment
Haiku 1 carries a double meaning. It describes not only the form of a haiku, respectively 5-7-5 syllables but due its minimalist epigrammatic form, it also purifies the experience. A haiku cleans… it is an act of 'misogi'.
'Illumination' suggests that a haiku harbors an insight that touches our heart and may evoke compassion or laughter. A haiku is 'here-and-now'.
'Illumination' suggests that a haiku harbors an insight that touches our heart and may evoke compassion or laughter. A haiku is 'here-and-now'.
2. The Way
Emptying my mind
Or Cleaning Namda station:
How many mirrors!
~
3. My mind emptied
8. Tasting tempura
9. White sand - fifteen rocks
Or Cleaning Namda station:
How many mirrors!
~
3. My mind emptied
8. Tasting tempura
9. White sand - fifteen rocks
The Way teaches: how to live, how to perceive, how to die.
The first lesson is to clean ourselves. Physical cleaning precedes the mental one. Mental cleaning aims to empty the mind of its obsessive and endless thoughts. Meditation helps to face the restlessness of mind and heart by attentive breathing, again and again.
Cleaning Osaka's Namda station is a simple task compared to cleaning the many mirrors of my mind, through which i imagine to perceive reality. What i really see are usually images of myself, in stead of the all-pervading Reality.
The first lesson is to clean ourselves. Physical cleaning precedes the mental one. Mental cleaning aims to empty the mind of its obsessive and endless thoughts. Meditation helps to face the restlessness of mind and heart by attentive breathing, again and again.
Cleaning Osaka's Namda station is a simple task compared to cleaning the many mirrors of my mind, through which i imagine to perceive reality. What i really see are usually images of myself, in stead of the all-pervading Reality.
3. The Way
My mind emptied
By the sound of one cricket
How easy is life.
~
2. Emptying my mind
8. Tasting tempura
9. White sand - fifteen rocks
By the sound of one cricket
How easy is life.
~
2. Emptying my mind
8. Tasting tempura
9. White sand - fifteen rocks
The haiku refers to a debate between Buddhist monks in Japan in 963, in which some of the monks defended the idea that nature is already enlightened and only humans not yet! The Buddhists of Koyasan follow their founder Kukai who taught that enlightenment can be reached in this life.
5. Place and Space
Leaving Koyasan
With Buddha as the driver:
No cleaning needed.
~
32. Pacific Ocean
33. Pacific Ocean
36. Time space of email
With Buddha as the driver:
No cleaning needed.
~
32. Pacific Ocean
33. Pacific Ocean
36. Time space of email
Abbot Habukawa of the Muryoko-in temple asked a monk to drive us to the station of Koyasan, to leave for Nara, our next destination. We knew the monk by face and heart, because he invited us every morning to participate in the ceremony in honor of Kukai, the founder of Koyasan.
How to describe my amazement at the sight of him as Buddha in the National Museum of Nara. There was no difference between him and the statue. Buddha-hood is everywhere... no cleaning needed.
How to describe my amazement at the sight of him as Buddha in the National Museum of Nara. There was no difference between him and the statue. Buddha-hood is everywhere... no cleaning needed.
6. Family
God, Gods nor Buddha's
Just the cry and laughing of
Yaro and Hazel.
~
50. The eyes of Ezra
47. No better horse for
56. I leave Osaka
Just the cry and laughing of
Yaro and Hazel.
~
50. The eyes of Ezra
47. No better horse for
56. I leave Osaka
I wrote this haiku in the Muryoko-in temple in Koyasan.
Grandson Yaro of my consort Colette and my granddaughter Hazel were born a few months before the journey, which was my family's gift to me with only one string attached: to stay for a while in a Buddhist temple. During the early morning ceremonies of the monks and nuns, the realization crossed my mind that the simultaneous cry and laughing of Yaro and Hazel are the gateways to satori.
Grandson Yaro of my consort Colette and my granddaughter Hazel were born a few months before the journey, which was my family's gift to me with only one string attached: to stay for a while in a Buddhist temple. During the early morning ceremonies of the monks and nuns, the realization crossed my mind that the simultaneous cry and laughing of Yaro and Hazel are the gateways to satori.
7. Tenderness
How tender the look
Of the old crippled lady
Serving us cold tea.
~
10. Couples in moonlight
30. The sound of the bell
35. Love letter written
Of the old crippled lady
Serving us cold tea.
~
10. Couples in moonlight
30. The sound of the bell
35. Love letter written
When there is beauty in the eye, there is beauty outside the eye.
When there is tenderness in the heart, there is tenderness outside the heart.
Serving cold tea refers to the warm season.
Serving hot tea refers to the cold season.
Everything proves to be interrelated.
When there is tenderness in the heart, there is tenderness outside the heart.
Serving cold tea refers to the warm season.
Serving hot tea refers to the cold season.
Everything proves to be interrelated.
8. The Way
Tasting tempura
The gate to nature's belly
Full of surprises.
~
2. My mind emptied
3. Emptying my mind
9. White sand - fifteen rocks
The gate to nature's belly
Full of surprises.
~
2. My mind emptied
3. Emptying my mind
9. White sand - fifteen rocks
Japanese food has the capacity of revealing our DNA. Japanese cuisine has great variety in taste, and yet it carries one common feature. Its food stimulates through the act of tasting our connection with the unconscious levels of our DNA. This experience, however, does not exclude other 'kitchens'.
Our belly is nature - always present.
Our belly is nature - always present.
9. The Way
White sand - fifteen rocks
Infinite concentration!
Too much to swallow.
~
2. My mind emptied
3. Emptying my mind
8. Tasting tempura
Infinite concentration!
Too much to swallow.
~
2. My mind emptied
3. Emptying my mind
8. Tasting tempura
In the garden of the Ryoanji Temple, shown at the back of the Haiku Quartet Game, I wrote the haiku 'White sand - fifteen rocks'.
Beauty beyond reach belongs to the sublime for which there are no words.
Bjørn Aris, one of Europe's great sword masters, commented upon my position at the back of the Card Game.
I enjoyed his remarks manifesting the mind of the swordsman, and answered: there are two reasons for this position. First of all, I am not longing for perfection, only for near-perfection, in order not to think about perfection; and second: writing a haiku requires a natural position of the body.
Then we laughed and listened to the sound of the North sea inside the glasspavilion of the Kurhaus in Scheveningen.
Beauty beyond reach belongs to the sublime for which there are no words.
Bjørn Aris, one of Europe's great sword masters, commented upon my position at the back of the Card Game.
I enjoyed his remarks manifesting the mind of the swordsman, and answered: there are two reasons for this position. First of all, I am not longing for perfection, only for near-perfection, in order not to think about perfection; and second: writing a haiku requires a natural position of the body.
Then we laughed and listened to the sound of the North sea inside the glasspavilion of the Kurhaus in Scheveningen.
10. Tenderness
Couples in moonlight
Lining the Ramo river
Gently passing by.
~
7. How tender the look
30. The sound of the bell
35. Love letter written
Lining the Ramo river
Gently passing by.
~
7. How tender the look
30. The sound of the bell
35. Love letter written
Lining the Ramo River in Kyoto, couples take position at more or less equal distances, as if they obey the hand of an invisible choreographer. It takes some time to discover that the moon is the choreographer.
Moonshine on the river, gently passing by and moonshine on the couples, reflecting the fragrance of their amour...
All three elements: moonshine, river and couples, united in the passage of time.
May Kyoto be their guardian.
11. Capital
Capital feels too:
Black white blue red yellow green
Where go the arrows?
~
22. Clock time reigns the world
43. Money has a will
49. The dollar-framed mind
Black white blue red yellow green
Where go the arrows?
~
22. Clock time reigns the world
43. Money has a will
49. The dollar-framed mind
While capital loves only itself - see Nature 51 - the people who own it in great quantities, have often an intense, if not obsessive, relationship with their capital. One might say that the capital owns them more than they do their capital.
However, what interests me in this relationship is the color of the emotions toward capital: how the owners invest and spend it. Hence the sentence: 'Where go the arrows'?
12. Birds
Becoming a bird
Flying above hills and lakes
Enjoying my self.
~
13. Migratory birds
14. The heron descends
15. Heron in Warder
Flying above hills and lakes
Enjoying my self.
~
13. Migratory birds
14. The heron descends
15. Heron in Warder
Birds embody a freedom of movement and a joy of being which enchant my imagination since childhood.
Once, at the University for Humanist Studies in Utrecht, The Netherlands, the students and I discussed the meaning of the sentence: The glass is on the table, the title of a famous debate between Alfred Ayer and Arne Naess.
I told my students that the sentence only makes sense from a human perspective, not from the perspective of a bird. One of the students interrupted me, and asked: why are you so sure that it makes no sense to a bird?
I answered: once in a while I become a bird.
13. Birds
Migratory birds
Moving straight ahead, unmoved
Gazing from above.
~
12. Becoming a bird
14. The heron descends
15. Heron in warder
Moving straight ahead, unmoved
Gazing from above.
~
12. Becoming a bird
14. The heron descends
15. Heron in warder
Watching the birds at home, some-times in the thousands, arriving and leaving according to the seasons, and watching them in Kyoto, I am struck by their nonchalance, their
self-consciousness, their sense of freedom, their seeming indifference manifesting in fact the nature of the samurai: moving ahead, unmoved, without control yet mastering the situation.
Kyoto taught me how the mind of the samurai and the instinct of migratory birds coincide in the depth of their existence.
14. Birds
The heron descends
Watching motionless her prey
Unconscious of fate.
~
12. Becoming a bird
13. Migratory birds
15. Heron in Warder
Watching motionless her prey
Unconscious of fate.
~
12. Becoming a bird
13. Migratory birds
15. Heron in Warder
The nature of a heron is beyond age... he seems already old when he is young. The heron of the landscape paintings in Kyoto's National Museum hides her double nature: while she waits for her prey, she does not show a single sign of desire. The heron taught the Japanese artist the secret of time-without-time: the here-and-now, the essence of Zen.
Hundred years later, the painting is teaching me: unconscious of fate, a prey in the hands of time.
15. Birds
Heron in Warder
Same heron in Kyoto:
Who knows about whom.
~
12. Becoming a bird
13. Migratory birds
14. The heron descends
Same heron in Kyoto:
Who knows about whom.
~
12. Becoming a bird
13. Migratory birds
14. The heron descends
From my living room in Warder, I look over the meadows and a ditch, where the heron stands motionless along the edge of the water, in a similar position as the heron in Kyoto at the border of the Ramo river.
Are they the same heron? For me they are but not to themselves. Only humans mislead themselves with the word 'the same', thinking in collective identities.
16. Woman - Man
The man looks at her
His face is mysterious
She yet unknowing.
~
17. The woman looks at him
18. The woman and man
44. Two masks one actor:
His face is mysterious
She yet unknowing.
~
17. The woman looks at him
18. The woman and man
44. Two masks one actor:
The way to self -knowledge passes various phases:
Not knowing that we don't know;
Knowing that we don't know;
Not knowing that we do know;
Knowing that we do know.
Having reached the fourth level, it starts all over again but on a different level.
Once the journey has begun, there is no return possible.
17. Woman - Man
The woman looks at him
Her face is open-minded
Seduction stand by.
~
16. The man looks at her
18. The woman and man
44. Two masks one actor:
Her face is open-minded
Seduction stand by.
~
16. The man looks at her
18. The woman and man
44. Two masks one actor:
The story of haiku 16 continues. The 'superiority' of man disappears as snow for the sun, when the woman awakens, discovering deep inside her the secret of life and love... the capacity to receive semen and to bring it to fruition.
The woman, therefore, is the symbol of wisdom and ultimate knowledge.
18. Woman - Man
The woman and man
Are suddenly perceiving:
Nothing stands between!
~
16. The man looks at her
17. The woman looks at him
44. Two masks one actor:
Are suddenly perceiving:
Nothing stands between!
~
16. The man looks at her
17. The woman looks at him
44. Two masks one actor:
Woman and man, ontologically one, are the living presence of polar forces in their mutual attraction and repulsion. The hidden agenda of nature shapes them according to the dynamics of matter and life. The moment they fall in love, they realize their oneness: their common origin.
19. Experiences
My beard grows faster
In the mountains of Awa:
Energy exchange.
~
21. Without time in mind
34. The floor of Ando
27. Japanese I feel
In the mountains of Awa:
Energy exchange.
~
21. Without time in mind
34. The floor of Ando
27. Japanese I feel
The kami of the island Shikoku live in their invisible world as spirits of rivers, rocks, trees, humans and animals. Kami are an integral part of Japan's animistic tradition with its awareness of the unity of all living beings, the yet to be born and the living dead; the awareness of the ongoing transformation of "all there is", and the awareness of the myriad forms of consciousness in whatever exists.
20. Nature
How intense the sound
Of crickets in the evening
Dark nature awakes.
~
25. Tall in the blue sky
31. Breathing red blood cells
51. Whatever exists
Of crickets in the evening
Dark nature awakes.
~
25. Tall in the blue sky
31. Breathing red blood cells
51. Whatever exists
Nature never appears more alive than during the evening hours.
When the sun sets, leaving half of the earth in the dark, dark nature awakes, clearing the way for unconscious desires in animals and humans alike, with only the moon as witness.
21. Experiences
Without time in mind
One never misses the train
How liberating!
~
19. My beard grows faster
34. The floor of Ando
27. Japanese I feel
One never misses the train
How liberating!
~
19. My beard grows faster
34. The floor of Ando
27. Japanese I feel
The Achilles heel of modernity is its notion of time.
Modernity beliefs that time moves only in one direction: forward, as the straight, homogeneous time-line that continues into infinity, according to the definition of time by Isaac Barrow in 1693. Barrow understood the purely mathematical nature of his time formula. Generations after him, however, transformed this definition of time into an ontological and historic notion of time, with the result: Modernity for ever! Time moves only ahead. Future is Progress.
How stupid can one be!
22. Capital
Clock time reigns the world
Fetching the mind of humans-
Dogs and cats more free.
~
11. Capital feels too:
43. Money has a will
49. The dollar-framed mind
Fetching the mind of humans-
Dogs and cats more free.
~
11. Capital feels too:
43. Money has a will
49. The dollar-framed mind
There is a close relationship between capital and time, especially since time became for modern man a straight line, exclusively pointing to the future - see Experiences 21. The consequence: no time to lose... time is money.
This notion of time is the 'carcan', the iron neck chain, used for prisoners until its abolition in France in 1832. Further comment superfluous.
23. Elightenment
Accepting the way:
It is and is not and both
And not both, It is!
~
1. Reaching enlightenment
24. My mother died twice
26. Reaching enlightenment
It is and is not and both
And not both, It is!
~
1. Reaching enlightenment
24. My mother died twice
26. Reaching enlightenment
Perceiving and understanding are always imbued with a specific kind of logic. A different use of logic is the hallmark of cultures.
'Accepting the way' evokes the sphere of being, the essence of all existence. It submerges the human being in deep water by confronting him with the simultaneity of being and non-being. The haiku contradicts the famous words: 'to be or not to be: that is the question', of Hamlet (1600) in Shakespeare's tragedy.
See introductory letter for comment on Hamlet's logic.
24. Enlightenment
My mother died twice
Once and tonight in my dream:
She’s alive in me.
~
1. Reaching enlightenment
23. Accepting the way:
26. Reaching enlightenment
Once and tonight in my dream:
She’s alive in me.
~
1. Reaching enlightenment
23. Accepting the way:
26. Reaching enlightenment
In a wooden cabin not far from the river Shimanto, I dreamt about my mother.
Dreaming about her always reminds me of her dream about me, before she got pregnant. When I became eighteen, she asked me a few questions. After I gave her the answers she hoped for, she told me the dream. The dream was about the birth of a boy, embodying her vision: the common good and the spiritual well-being of mankind. After her dream, she woke up and made love to my father. Nine months later, I was born, her seventh child.
I am living her dream... she is alive in me.
25. Nature
Tall in the blue sky
The wooden cabin on poles
Small when the rain falls.
~
20. How intense the sound
31. Breathing red blood cells
51. Whatever exists
The wooden cabin on poles
Small when the rain falls.
~
20. How intense the sound
31. Breathing red blood cells
51. Whatever exists
There is a close relationship between capital and time, especially since time became for modern man a straight line, exclusively pointing to the future - see Experiences 21. The consequence: no time to lose... time is money.
This notion of time is the 'carcan', the iron neck chain, used for prisoners until its abolition in France in 1832. Further comment superfluous.
26. Elightenment
Reaching enlightenment
Equals the natural way
Nature likes to hide.
~
1. Reaching enlightenment
23. Accepting the way:
24. My mother died twice
Equals the natural way
Nature likes to hide.
~
1. Reaching enlightenment
23. Accepting the way:
24. My mother died twice
Illumination or inner enlightenment is a state of mind and heart, receptive to nature, the equivalent of 'all there is'. Nature is the source of illumination. The realization of 'all there is' is so profound and all-pervasive that the Greek philosopher Heraclitus writes: 'nature likes to hide herself'. The way of nature leads to the experience of nature as The One without form, without substance, hiding in the myriads of transient identities. There is no difference between cosmos and humans, except the capacity of humans of being a mirror for whatever exists.
27. Experiences
Japanese I feel
Becoming a river fish
To be eaten raw.
~
19. My beard grows faster
21. Without time in mind
34. The floor of Ando
Becoming a river fish
To be eaten raw.
~
19. My beard grows faster
21. Without time in mind
34. The floor of Ando
The mountain river Auzonnet is only a few footsteps away from the house where I write the comments on the haiku. Along its bank is a special rock, partly carved out. We call it the philosopher's stone, because the rock invites to reflect on the perpetual movement of the river and her fish, while it itself withstands the elements.
River and rock symbolize my experience of Japan, forming a circle of opposite movements: dynamic and motionless. And yet: who knows? Who is eating whom? Does the present eat the past, or does the past eat the future present?
29. Japan
«Nature Deity»
«Deus sive Natura»
Japan Spinoza.
~
37. Japan one country
55. Nippon Netherlands
54. Emperor Empress
«Deus sive Natura»
Japan Spinoza.
~
37. Japan one country
55. Nippon Netherlands
54. Emperor Empress
"Nature Deity", printed on the slippers of the Japanese Youth Hostel in Awa Ikeda high up in the mountains, is a succinct description of Shinto.
Shinto, the ancient religious worldview of Japan, defies any conceptualization. Its basic aspiration: to live in harmony with Nature, the all-embracing Reality.
Spinoza, 17th century Dutch philosopher, one of the founders of the Enlightenment, writes: 'Deus sive Natura' - 'God or Nature'.
The striking correspondence between "Nature Deity" and "God or Nature" inspires me to equate Japan and Spinoza.
30. Tenderness
The sound of the bell
Early morning, is touching
My heart and belly.
~
7. How tender the look
10. Couples in moonlight
35. Love letter written
Early morning, is touching
My heart and belly.
~
7. How tender the look
10. Couples in moonlight
35. Love letter written
Classical Greek has a word that lets beauty and goodness merge into one feeling. Such an experience happened one early morning through the sound of a bell, the sea reflecting the light and the order of things in the fisher village Hiwasa on the island Shikoku.
31. Nature
Breathing red blood cells
Up the brain and down the spine
The snake awakens.
~
20. How intense the sound
25. Tall in the blue sky
51. Whatever exists
Up the brain and down the spine
The snake awakens.
~
20. How intense the sound
25. Tall in the blue sky
51. Whatever exists
Kundalini yoga treasures a secret that rarely manifests itself. Her secret - see Japan, haiku 54 - shows the truth of the saying of Heraclitus: 'Nature likes to hide herself'.
When the snake appears, do not move... stay quiet... be not afraid... she speaks about a common origin. That's all I can tell.
32. Place and Space
Pacific Ocean
No master no slave or god
A boundless spirit.
~
5. Leaving Koyasan
33. Pacific Ocean
36. Time space of email
No master no slave or god
A boundless spirit.
~
5. Leaving Koyasan
33. Pacific Ocean
36. Time space of email
Traveling by Ocean Ferry Tokyo from the island Shikoku to Tokyo, about 650 kilometers, the Ocean took possession of me. I can also write: the spirits or kami of the Ocean took possession of me.
The difference between place and space became clear. The boat, although impressive as a place, was a tiny spot in the infinite space of the Pacific Ocean: A boundless spirit.
33. Place and Space
Pacific Ocean
Only the sky can bridge it
But fish feel at home.
~
5. Leaving Koyasan
32. Pacific Ocean
36. Time space of email
Only the sky can bridge it
But fish feel at home.
~
5. Leaving Koyasan
32. Pacific Ocean
36. Time space of email
The fish, occupying their place within space, not being afraid of its bound-lessness, are one with nature...
I only have to follow their spirit.
34. Experiences
The floor of Ando
Tells stories about his guests
Their way of moving.
~
19. My beard grows faster
21. Without time in mind
27. Japanese I feel
Tells stories about his guests
Their way of moving.
~
19. My beard grows faster
21. Without time in mind
27. Japanese I feel
'The floor of Ando', a ryokan in Tokyo, is a microcosm, evoking a way of life that millions of people recognize. It reminds me of the house of my grandparents, where the thin wooden walls of the guestroom told stories about the sleeping habits of my grandparents. Such an environment stimulated my imagination as a child. The nightly sounds were a source of guessing and wondering about what was going on in the other rooms of the house.
35. Tenderness
Love letter written
With black ink on soft paper
The touch of her skin.
~
7. How tender the look
10. Couples in moonlight
30. The sound of the bell
With black ink on soft paper
The touch of her skin.
~
7. How tender the look
10. Couples in moonlight
30. The sound of the bell
The calligraphy of the letters in black ink in the National Museum in Kyoto is beyond any description... its intimacy breath-taking... its personality more vivid than life... its sensitivity at the edge of surrender.
Haiku 35 speaks to the heart of my grand-daughter Jade, the living embodiment of the green jewel, whose radiance is tenderness.
36. Place and Space
Time space of email
Space time of writing by hand
Feel the difference!
~
5. Leaving Koyasan
32. Pacific Ocean
33. Pacific Ocean
Space time of writing by hand
Feel the difference!
~
5. Leaving Koyasan
32. Pacific Ocean
33. Pacific Ocean
There is no time without space, except in the mind of humans, and no space without time, for space embodies time... space makes time visible. Space and time are fundamentally one. Their relationship varies in infinitely many ways.
Writing an email is a different experience of space than the experience of space while writing a letter by hand. The hand creates space, and through this new space a specific time. Especially calligraphy reveals the depth of space as embodiment of time.
37. Japan
Japan one country
Where my nails stay clean for weeks
How astonishing!
~
29. «Nature Deity»
55. Nippon Netherlands
54. Emperor Empress
Where my nails stay clean for weeks
How astonishing!
~
29. «Nature Deity»
55. Nippon Netherlands
54. Emperor Empress
Misogi or cleaning is important in order to get in contact with the kami... the Japanese word that refers to 'invisible living spirits'. Kami play a central role in Shinto's belief in reincarnation: a human being can return as human being but also as animal, tree or rock. To respect whatever exists, is therefore an evident duty.
38. Creators
M V R D V
Projecting yin yang movements
Mastering Dior.
~
39. Birds flowers snakes girls
40. Conscious animal
53. Tange's Notre Dame
Projecting yin yang movements
Mastering Dior.
~
39. Birds flowers snakes girls
40. Conscious animal
53. Tange's Notre Dame
The design stores of Tokyo's avenue Omotesando compete with each other through the architecture of their buildings.
MVRDV architects had to compete with their neighbor Dior standing there as a symphony of shining diamond-shaped but non-transparent panes with only one 'modest' window. By designing strong mutual oppositions, they mastered Dior.
39. Creators
Birds flowers snakes girls
Black gold blue green orange and red:
Issey Miyake.
~
38. M V R D V
40. Conscious animal
53. Tange's Notre Dame
Black gold blue green orange and red:
Issey Miyake.
~
38. M V R D V
40. Conscious animal
53. Tange's Notre Dame
The designs by Issey Miyake remind me of the paintings by Botticelli. They share not only intensity and natural flow, but also the radiance of the fabrics and a cosmopolitan air that manifests a freedom toward life without guilt or other difficult feelings.
Vive Issey Miyake.
40. Creators
Conscious animal
The attraction of leather:
Dolce Gabbana.
~
38. M V R D V
39. Birds flowers snakes girls
53. Tange's Notre Dame
The attraction of leather:
Dolce Gabbana.
~
38. M V R D V
39. Birds flowers snakes girls
53. Tange's Notre Dame
The oldest definition of man is: 'animal rationale', a rational animal. Its author: Aristotle. Another definition: 'animal symbolicum', by Ernst Cassirer.
Dolce Gabbana, however, prefers the animal lust in each of us with its sadomasochistic tendencies slumbering peacefully on the bottom of our soul, waiting to be awakened by their designs.
41. Tokyo
Monk at crossing point
Standing quietly alone
People rushing by.
~
42. Shops shops shops hops shops
52. Daily seeing so
48. The crooked old man
Standing quietly alone
People rushing by.
~
42. Shops shops shops hops shops
52. Daily seeing so
48. The crooked old man
Ginza district, Saturday afternoon.
The four lights of two main avenues jump on green. Thousands of people start rushing in four directions, with one exception. A Buddhist monk in a brown robe with a hole; a begging-bowl in his right hand, doesn't move, not even his hand.
We are on our way to the Kabuki-za theatre. We see him without seeing him.
42. Tokyo
Shops shops shops shops shops
Shops shops shops monk shops shops shops
Shops shops shops shops shops.
~
41. Monk at crossing point
52. Daily seeing so
48. The crooked old man
Shops shops shops monk shops shops shops
Shops shops shops shops shops.
~
41. Monk at crossing point
52. Daily seeing so
48. The crooked old man
Sunday morning in Ando Ryokan. I am awake. The haiku form takes possession of me. The monk of haiku 41 is still standing at the crossing point of the two main avenues in the Ginza district. No shoppers; only shops. Right in the middle the monk as the quiet centre of the Saturday cyclone of consumers.
43. Capital
Money has a will
Of its own, and in its way
Peace and war on hand.
~
11. Capital feels too:
22. Clock time reigns the world
49. The dollar-framed mind
Of its own, and in its way
Peace and war on hand.
~
11. Capital feels too:
22. Clock time reigns the world
49. The dollar-framed mind
Capital is the most abstract and yet, for many, highest value of human civilization. It is widely experienced as the key to happiness, from which it derives a mythic status. Capital often decides about peace and war.
The question, however, remains: why is its will in control of the people who own it and even of the people who don't own it? Does money really have a will of its own?
44. Woman - Man
Two masks one actor:
Woman and man alternate
Before being born.
~
16. The man looks at her
17. The woman looks at him
18. The woman and man
Woman and man alternate
Before being born.
~
16. The man looks at her
17. The woman looks at him
18. The woman and man
The story of haiku 18 came to life in the Kabuki-za theatre in Tokyo during a Nohinspired act by a 80 year male actor, carrying two masks: female and male.
The power of his imagination, playing the young while being old, and playing the woman while being a man, turning everything upside down and around again, shows the immortality of his mind, reflecting Original Mind:
crossing every border, transforming itself in whatever being, passing through ages of experience and suffering, darkness and light, without beginning or end.
47. Family
No better horse for
Riding than your own father
Hit and hold the reins.
~
6. God, Gods nor Buddha's
50. The eyes of Ezra
56. I leave Osaka
Riding than your own father
Hit and hold the reins.
~
6. God, Gods nor Buddha's
50. The eyes of Ezra
56. I leave Osaka
No better horse for / Riding than your own father, is the advice to granddaughter Hazel, in order to learn at a young age, how to deal with her father. Girls have to be educated self consciously, away from the Gods of Heaven and ditto patriarchal ways of thinking. Inner freedom regards every aspect of life, without any exception for any woman or man.
48. Tokyo
The crooked old man
Kept running along track one
While the train had left.
~
41. Monk at crossing point
42. Shops shops shops shops shops
52. Daily seeing so
Kept running along track one
While the train had left.
~
41. Monk at crossing point
42. Shops shops shops shops shops
52. Daily seeing so
Subway Ueno station...
Homer's comment:
life is a bucket, the one half filled with joy - the other half with sorrow.
49. Capital
The dollar-framed mind
Keeps running after money
Its eyes myopic.
~
11. Capital feels too:
22. Clock time reigns the world
43. Money has a will
Keeps running after money
Its eyes myopic.
~
11. Capital feels too:
22. Clock time reigns the world
43. Money has a will
What is the fate of a myopic mind?
The Cyclops in Homer's Odyssey is myopic since birth. And even that one eye, he loses by the ruse of Odysseus. A similar fate waits the dollar-framed mind, because nature - see Nature haiku 51 - is unable to recognize capital.
50. Family
The eyes of Ezra
Mirrors of sun on the moon
How enlightening!
~
6. God, Gods nor Buddha's
47. No better horse for
56. I leave Osaka
Mirrors of sun on the moon
How enlightening!
~
6. God, Gods nor Buddha's
47. No better horse for
56. I leave Osaka
Whoever wants to know whether life is still worthwhile, has only to visit Ezra my grandson and to look in his eyes. If his eyes touch you, you are okay. If not, you are in trouble.
If you can't find him, go to a playground, and search for him... I am sure you will find the child whose eyes are the mirrors of the sunshine on the moon.
51. Nature
Whatever exists
Loves something else in nature
Except capital.
~
20. How intense the sound
25. Tall in the blue sky
31. Breathing red blood cells
Loves something else in nature
Except capital.
~
20. How intense the sound
25. Tall in the blue sky
31. Breathing red blood cells
With each new life, tenderness and wonder are surging from the depth of nature to the surface... leaving the lies where they belong; blinding their evidence; dissolving their motives; transforming their ugliness into beauty.
Except capital... it only loves itself.
52. Tokyo
Daily seeing so
Many - never again nor
In the afterlife.
~
41. Monk at crossing point
42. Shops shops shops shops shops
48. The crooked old man
Many - never again nor
In the afterlife.
~
41. Monk at crossing point
42. Shops shops shops shops shops
48. The crooked old man
In train stations, more than at airports, one realizes that most humans we meet, are met only once. Nothing seems to return, except the sound of trains, carrying other passengers, other faces.
Tokyo: the city of an incessant relentless succession of moments.
"Daily seeing so / Many - never again nor / In the afterlife."??
53. Creators
Tange’s Notre Dame
Designed as Buddhist Temple
With Sienese Forum.
~
38. M V R D V
39. Birds flowers snakes girls
40. Conscious animal
Designed as Buddhist Temple
With Sienese Forum.
~
38. M V R D V
39. Birds flowers snakes girls
40. Conscious animal
Kenzo Tange's Metropolitan Government Building, housing the administration of Great Tokyo with its 30 million people, radiates dignity due to the arrangements of the volumes and the brown-red color bricks.
Tange admired Europe... its cities with their cathedrals, public squares and democratic traditions. Europe is present in this building... The two towers; the colonnades of ancient Rome as the corridors in Buddhist temples, and a square that reminds us of Siena's square with its diagonal semi-circles.
MGB: A tribute to democracy.
54. Japan
Emperor Empress
Skyscrapers guard their palace:
Japan’s two faces!
~
29. «Nature Deity»
37. Japan one country
55. Nippon Netherlands
Skyscrapers guard their palace:
Japan’s two faces!
~
29. «Nature Deity»
37. Japan one country
55. Nippon Netherlands
Japan was never colonized. It chose modernization in order to stay independent and to preserve its ancient identity. Tradition and modernization are the two faces of Japan: equally important. The present is past and future at once.
Emperor and Empress embody the sacred unity of the country. The present-day 125th Emperor Akihito or tenno is the mediator between the visible world of the humans and the invisible world of the kami. He represents the living tie with the sun goddess Amaterasu. His inauguration is a secret ritual, conforming with the saying: 'Nature likes to hide herself'.
55. Japan
Nippon Netherlands
No sunrise without sunset
This circle is round.
~
29. «Nature Deity»
37. Japan one country
54. Emperor Empress
No sunrise without sunset
This circle is round.
~
29. «Nature Deity»
37. Japan one country
54. Emperor Empress
The paradox of Japan is the fruitful co-existence of ancient traditions and ultra modern technology. Japanese do not believe that time runs in only one direction, thanks to a less exclusive logic than the Western one.
The secret: No sunrise without sunset. Everything is interrelated. Facts and values interact. No fixed identities. Nature is alive.
56. Family
I leave Osaka
Without Buddha as driver
Bringing haikus home.
~
6. God, Gods nor Buddha's
50. The eyes of Ezra
47. No better horse for
Without Buddha as driver
Bringing haikus home.
~
6. God, Gods nor Buddha's
50. The eyes of Ezra
47. No better horse for
'I leave Osaka / Without Buddha as driver', refers to 'Leaving Koyasan / With Buddha as the driver', in "Place and Space" haiku 5.
'Without Buddha as driver', could mean that Buddha stays behind in Japan! It also could mean that the Buddha took refuge in some haiku which I am bringing home as a present for family and friends. Probably, it means both. Only Buddha knows!