'boundless occurrence goes on and on'

Chuang-tzu dreams he's a butterfly,
& a butterfly becomes Chuang-tzu
-- Li Po

Li Po, the Taoist poet, dies in 762.
In 2007, I name a kitten after him
& now that cat is Li Po.

Canary Sings

Ananda Canary
sings and the phone does not ring
this is paradise

The Haiku of Saint Francis

Doves cast out all fear
They are an instrument of
love and hope for peace.

Cats Can Always Get What They Want

Study: Cats overpower owners with purrs
British researchers say they have determined that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners to get food and attention. USA Today

"You can't always get
what you want," Rolling Stones say.
But cool cats know ways.

Lizard Lessons

On the vast sidewalk
a little lizard reminds
us to walk softly.

My Breakfast with a Black Vulture

ME: Good morning.

BLACK VULTURE: You say.

ME: How's it going in this recession?

BLACK VULTURE: Same old. Same old.

ME: Business not what it used to be?

BLACK VULTURE: It would pick up if you would drop dead.

ME: Oh my.

BLACK VULTURE: Yeah, I know. You can sentimentalize or intellectualize the whole thing. But eventually what it comes down to is you're going to drop dead one these days on one of your desert morning hikes. Then I will pick your bones clean before the park rangers get here.

ME: I think you are the pure Buddha understanding the impermenenace of all things including human life. You represent the reality that we are all only passing incarnations living in the illusion of this dream world we call reality.

BLACK VULTURE: Whatever. You don't happen to have a cigarette and one of those Bic lighters on you, do you?

ME: For you?

BLACK VULTURE: No dummy, for you. I haven't got all day here.

Living room with room to live

Canary in his
table top garden fortress
no fear of house cats

What We Can Learn From Cats

Two cats and one chair
they could fuss and fight over it
but instead they share.

'Barn’s burnt down. Now I can see the moon'

As the story goes, this actually happened to Mizuta Masahide, 17th century samurai poet in the Zeze domain of Ohmi Province, Japan.

His barn did burn down. But instead of lamenting his fate, he wrote this famous haiku.

It is the exact opposite of our usual reaction to trouble, summed up in the pop poem:

Poor me
poor me
pour me
another drink.

While Masahide reputedly loved to drink, he apparently did not like to cry in his beer, or perhaps it was sake.

Masahide's attitude toward his troubles might be helpful to those of us who have been hit hard by this recession/depression/collapse of Western Civilization or whatever you want to call it.

For example:

At 62, laid off from my job at the Technology News Factory since December, and looking at an economy where there are five seekers for every available job, I can either bemoan my fate or start collecting Social Security.

Because I am unemployed and at my age probably unemployable in the youth-oriented job market, I can now realize my 1960s dream to sit watching the river flow, drinking wine and writing haiku.

My generation,
aging hippies, finally
tunes in and drops out.

The Lost Temptations of Christ

The Devil wore a digital watch.
This is a little known fact.
Jesus was in the wilderness
for 40 days and didn't know
what day or time it was.

Then the Devil showed up
and said: "It's the Sabbath."

And Jesus said: "How do you know?"

Then the Devil showed him his
digital watch and said:
"See you should be in temple."

But Jesus said: "The Sabbath
was made for man, not man
for the Sabbath."

And generations of football fans
yet unborn and un-named gave
thanks for this teaching.

However, the Devil would not
give up that easily.
He whipped out his Blackberry.

"Look at this! It's a combination
telephone, digital time keeper,
personal calendar, and you can
check out your favorite Websites,
and send email and Twitter."

But Jesus said: "I don't Twitter.
I don't email. I don't have
favorite Websites and I keep my
personal calendar in my head."

At this point the Devil saw
a potential sale slipping away, so
he produced a hi def flat screen TV.
"Look you can watch all your favorite
shows in high definition."

But Jesus said: "I don't have any
favorite shows and I already see
the whole world in high definition."

In desperation the Devil took Jesus
to a big box electronics store,
which was a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Hinges of Hell Enterprises, Inc.

There were rows of personal computers,
and all manner of hi def televisions,
and tons of portable mobile accessories.
Everything sparkled like new wine.

"All this plus iPhones yet to be
invented can be yours if you will
just follow me," the Devil said.

"You can't fool me," Jesus said.
"All this will turn to rust and dust,
except for the plastic parts that
will pollute landfills for millions
and millions of years."

"Oh, come now," the Devil replied.
"Surely you could use an MP3 player
to play you some tunes during those
lonely nights in the desert. It's
a great little device. It brings you
full surround sound stereo through
these little ear buds. Try it out.
You can hear all the instruments."

But Jesus looked around the store
and said: "These are instruments
of the Devil. These are the Devil's
own devices of distraction."

Then Jesus walked out of the store,
passing the counter where he might
have applied for easy credit with no
payments due until January 2010.

And the Devil stood there screaming:
"Socialist! Luddite! Environmental
extremist! Anti-American! Killjoy!
I hope I'm not leaving anything out!"

Jesus just kept on walking, never looked back.