oh, butterfly!
how you grace
my long journey



makopas
but still too young...
let's go



passing by
the angel of stone--
a frog croaks



fog...
no more view of
the distant lake

The Walk According to Santoka

I fell deeply in love with the haiku of Santoka Taneda (1882-1940). Thanks to those who rescued him from his suicide attempt and brought him to a Zen temple. As described by Dissident Editions, Santoka “devoted his life to moneyless pilgrimage (walking Zen)... Apart from a towel and the clothes he stood up in, virtually all he possessed was just one bowl: the traditional begging-bowl in which he received alms of food or perhaps money, and from which he ate and drank. Such a bowl would have been the most intimate friend and companion... he had a continuing , deep relationship with sake, the rice wine of Japan.”

The following haiku is considered to be his best:

into the begging bowl also-
hailstones

I am most touched by the following haiku:

begging: I accept
the burning sun

Santoka describes his “walking” in the following haiku:

unpleasant days:
days I don’t walk, days without booze,
haikuless days

no path but this one-
I walk alone

aimlessly
I walk through the withered glass

walking on and on-
my only course

walking and begging,
everywhere-
water sound

(source: Dissident Editions; I-ku Haiku)

Santoka defines haiku as follows:

Real haiku is the soul of poetry. Anything that is not actually present in one's heart is not haiku. The moon glows, flowers bloom, insects cry, water flows. There is no place we cannot find flowers or think of the moon. This is the essence of haiku. Go beyond the restrictions of your era, forget about purpose or meaning, separate yourself from historical limitations -- there you'll find the essence of true art, religion, and science.

tr. John Stevens (from www.haikupoet.com)

More haiku by Santoka can be found in The Haiga Pages

Reaching Luba

reaching
the village at last...
graves

The village refers to Barrio Luba in Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur, where my father lived and where I spent part of my childhood. It is where I take vacation during summer, particularly when dad was still alive. That's a six-hour drive from Manila. Upon entering the village through a narrow road, one is greeted by the site of a cramped graveyard on the right, amidst the rice fields but not far from the road. My grandparents and some other relatives who have passed away were buried there (not my dad, though). Everytime I go to visit our ancestral home in that village, I always turn my eyes to that graveyard. There's always the feeling or sense of tranquility but at the same time sadness.

Spectacle in Heaven

I received the following email today:

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification.

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m.

That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.

Share this with your children and grandchildren. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN.