DAILY PHOTO: Bangalore Wetlands

PROMPT: Oldest Possession

What’s the oldest thing you own that you still use daily?

I think that would be a compass that I got thirty-some years ago.

DAILY PHOTO: Urban Pastoral

Taken June 17, 2023 near Yelahanka Lake, Bangalore

Feel the Breeze [Free Verse]

Feel the breeze upon your face.
 Let it be all you know.

Don't ponder atmospheric lows.
 Just feel the breeze upon your face,
         and know:

There is a breeze.
         (Though it may not be
           what you think it is.)
 You have a face.
         (Though it may not be
           what you think it is.)

DAILY PHOTO: Balinese Cliffs

Low Pond Pathos [Haiku]

the pond 's drying up.
 the fish look sad,
  and I feel sad. 

Five Wise Lines from Chōmei’s Hōjōki

drawing by Kikuchi Yōsai

On flows the river ceaselessly, nor does its water ever stay the same.

 Kamo no Chōmei, Hōjōki

No one owns a splendid view, so nothing prevents the heart’s delight in it.

Kamo no Chōmei, Hōjōki

Knowing what the world holds and its ways, I desire nothing from it, nor chase after its prizes. My one craving is to be at peace; my one pleasure is to live free from troubles.

Kamo no Chōmei, Hōjōki

These days, I divide myself into two uses — these hands are my servants, these feet my transport.

Kamo no Chōmei, Hōjōki

When I chance to go down to the capital, I am ashamed of my lowly beggar status, but once back here again I pity those who chase after the sordid rewards of the world.

Kamo no Chōmei, Hōjōki

Reference: Saigyō Hōshi, Kamo no Chōmei, Yoshida Kenkō. 2021. Three Japanese Buddhist Monks. New York: Penguin Books. 112pp.

Available Here