Haiku Friday – Zen & Noise

Hi everyone! Happy Haiku Friday!

 

Zen and Noise are this week’s prompt words chosen by Ronovan Hester of Ronovan Writes.

Ron hosts a challenge that anyone could participate in called Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge every Monday, and you have until Sunday to create a post featuring your haiku poem. He is an author and poet and also does author interviews and much more on his blog. Be sure to check it out. Read Ron’s Haiku Prompt Challenge Guidelines for more information.

 

I struggled with this week’s prompt words, especially the word “Zen”. I tried to look for a synonym but it doesn’t have one (what?). Needless to say, I had to go way outside the box for this one. I looked up the definition for zen to find some inspiration and this is what I found.

Zen: Chinese Ch’an. Buddhism. A Mahayana movement, introduced into China in the 6th century a.d. and into Japan in the 12th century, that emphasizes enlightenment for the student by the most direct possible means, accepting formal studies and observances only when they form part of such means.

↑ The above definition might as well have been written in Mandarin or Japanese. ↑

Then the chaps at Cambridge gave me a simpler definition.

Zen: a religion that is a form of Buddhism developed in Japan. What is zen: relaxed and not worrying about things that you cannot change.

That was easier to understand, but I still found it challenging to come up with a poem with these words. So, I pretended to be a Buddhist Monk, while writing this poem and came up with a Tanka. I hope you like it.

 

I leap the world’s ties

And sit among the white clouds

To hear the earth’s noise

without my usual armor

coming ‘tween me and nature

(‘I leap the world’s ties, And sit among the white clouds’ = relaxed, not worrying = Zen)

(‘To hear the earth’s noise without my usual armor coming ‘tween me and nature’= enlightenment = Zen)

Enso Cat by Tsun Ming

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Enjoy your Friday and weekend!

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