A Year Of Kindness (VI): Kind Words

 

The remarkable thing about kindness is that - in word or deed - it costs almost nothing to give yet can yield results that far outweigh the effort required.

Back From Training 2026

I am back, friends It was a good training.  Some pictures to tide you over as I sleep and catch up.

(Tempura Dinner)

(View from our room)

(Unagi [Eel])

(Oizagongen Shrine - Tokyo)

(Tokyo at night)

(Embu, Kobudo Kyokai Taikai)

(Embu, Kobudo Kyokai Taikai)

(Shugenji Temple - Kamakura)

(Hasedera Temple - Kamakura)

(Kamakura Bay)

(Tsurugaoka Shrine - Kamakura)

(Engakuji Trmple)

(Meiji Temple - Tokyo)

A Brief History Of Haiku (III)

 The hokku (発句) originated as the starting verse of the renga.  Over the development of time, the hokku began to separate into its own poetic vehicle, still containing the rule of 5-7-5.

(As an interesting historical note, the hokku was renamed as haiku (俳句) - the changed first character means "actor" in the 19th century by the Japanese poet Masaoka Shiki (A.D. 1867-1902) and have since been applied retrospectively to all previous hokku written as such, although the original authors would not know the word.)

The 5-7-5 verse breaks the verse in the 17 on, the smallest grammatical Japanese language unit (typically a consonant and noun for English speakers).  The rule is strictly adhered to - except, of course, when it is not for artistic reasons (as it turns out, there is at least one whole haiku school that does not hold to it).

Rules that applied to the hokku as used in renga continued to apply:

- It needed a kireji (切れ字), a "cutting word", a word to break the stream of thought connect the previous and current verse through parallels, or give a "dignified ending".

- It needed a kigo (季語), a "season word", something to associate or imply the season of the writing of the poem

- It needed to reflect the current state of the poet when writing the poem.

One of the greatest haiku poets is the poet Bassho (A.D. 1644-1694), a master of both renga and haiku.  Likely he is the most famous haiku poet outside of Japan and certainly one of the definers of the genre.  One of his most famous works goes as follows:

古池や蛙飛び込む水の音

        furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto

Old pond,
frog leaps in,
water's sound

(Note:  Typically haiku are presented in Japanese as a single sentence, whereas in English we separate each verse.)

An alternative reading is:

Breaking the silence
of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into water - 
A deep resonance

Reading this, likely we can all think of a moment in time like this:  a setting, an action or event, and the momentary realization of the event.  The great haiku masters became experts at this, the capturing of moments.

Sources cited:

Haiku

Basho, Matsuo:  The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (translated by Yuasa, Nobuyuki):  Penguin Classics, New York: 1966

Wilson, William Scott.  A Beginner's Guide to Japanese Haiku:  Tuttle Publishing, New York:  2022.

A Year Of Haiku (V): Work's Dawn

Walking from my car:

blazing colour of Winter

brightens office mood.

 

2025 Cambodia And Vietnam: Terrace Of The Elephants

 The Terrace of The Elephants (which apparently the same in Khmer) was the terraced and foundation of the palace of King Jayavarman VII and part of the royal palace of Phimeanakas.  The palace, being of organic materials, has almost completely disappeared; only the terrace remains.

From this terrace, the King reviewed his victorious armies and made public proclamations.

The terrace runs 350 m (almost 1150 ft) with elephants and their mahouts.

The terrace also includes warriors and dancers:

Sadly, elephants in Cambodia have had their numbers reduced to 400-600.

2025 Cambodia And Vietnam: Bayon Wat (IV)

 In an era where most structures (like most places in the ancient and medieval world) were measured in terms of a single story, the scope of Bayon Wat must have been stunning to those who came here.

"Brooding" is not a term I use often.  But the ruins here definitely brooded over one as you made your way through them.

Access to them ruins is surprisingly (unless the West, where we seem to be kept out of anything that would be remotely dangerous).

I can imagine these passageways, roofed and filled with people.

Bayon Wat - like Angkor Wat that we will visit soon - is still considered an active place of worship.

Even from a distance, it is impressive.

Good Gifts

Occasionally a sermon is so good that it smacks you right in the fact.

Such was the sermon at my church a couple of weeks ago on prayer, using the text of Psalm 27.  The psalm, written by David, is divided into two sections.  The first, verses 1-6, is a backward looking song of testimony, where David is remembering what God has done in his life.  The second, versus 7-14, is a song of requesting help ("Panic", as our pastor put it).

The key to the Psalm was found in verses 4 and 8.

Verse 4:

"One thing I have asked of the LORD,
that I will see after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD,
and to inquire in His temple."

Verse 8:   

" Thou has said 'Seek ye my face.'
My heart says to Thee,
'Thy face, LORD, do I seek."

The key to all of this is found in the phrase "The beauty of LORD" - the Hebrew for "beauty" not being that of  "attractive" but rather of "favor, the kindheartedness of God, the good intentions of God", "friendliness".   Thus, we seek the Lord not for his appearance, but for His favor, his kindness (not as if that has not come recently), His good intentions.

The rub?  We need to do this first, before we start making our list of prayer requests.

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Many - and by many, I include myself here - treat God as a sort of vending machine, a genie as it were:   we lob our asks into the air, pray fervently, and then wait, hoping that God comes through exactly as we have asked.  And then, of course, we come to worship those things that God has granted us, rather than the God who gave them to us.

If we do not get those things we pray for, we come to mistrust God.  I mean, sure, I can ask for some selfish things - we all do, do we not? - but things like health and intact families and rewarding careers and meaningful relationships, those are all good things, right?  If God does not answer prayers, how is He even really interested in "good" things?

That is not prayer at all.  As said by my pastor, Prayer is entrusting ourselves to God, not praying to have Him do our will.  

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We get the process and order reversed.  As said by my pastor, Prayer is entrusting ourselves to God, not praying to have Him do our will.   And we entrust ourselves to God by first seeking Him, and then asking about our things.

Here is the funny thing:  David recognizes that God is good, that God has all those things - favor, kindheartedness, good intentions, even friendliness - towards us. It just may be that we do not recognize them as such because we are looking for the other things, the things we want.

The challenge from our pastor for a week was to start our morning prayer with these words:  "Father, help me to see the good gifts You have for me."  And then, after we have seen those good gifts, to ask about other things.

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One of the things that I am coming to understand as I get older is that a great many of the things we ask for - even if they are good things - never come to pass in our lives, at least not to the degree we desire.  As I think through the requests of myself and my close friends, over the years we have asked for strong marriages, intact and close families, rewarding careers that used our talents and were engaging, perhaps living in a particular location and in a particular manner.  Of maybe being truly serviceable or reaching fame via the arts or writing, of making a significant impact.

I do not wonder if - looking back at least for myself - that had these things come to pass, I would have worshipped them and myself as the person who brought them to pass.

Instead, God has given us - and me - other things.  Maybe things that are not those things, but things that are truly good and are in His will for our lives.  Things that hopefully advance the Kingdom, even though we do not always see it as such.

It has been revelatory to ask, every morning, "Father, help me to see the good gifts You have for me", and then see what actually comes to mind.