A Silly Poem

Quietly training,

hammering heart, shaky legs,

steam on cold windows.

Old bones!

Rattling in symphony,

With so many others.

neither fight nor flight

the lightly worn middle path

with white ai-ki blocks

Begging priets,

Following the Middle Path,

Becoming Buddhas.

Note: The Middle Path is one of the great doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism. In addition, in Japan, priests go out in a long line into the city for begging food to teach humility and poverty. They must always walk down the middle of the road so as not to show any preference to one house over the over.

Becoming Buddhas,

tugging our pendant earlobes --

whence this big belly?

Hotei!

Laughing and chuckling,

At Musashi's fighting cocks.

Note: The popularly known image often called the "happy Buddha" or the "Buddha of good luck" is actually Hotei who was an intinerent priest in Tang China, not really (technically) a Buddha. He was very popularly regarded as a guardian of children and included as one of the seven gods of good fortune. Very popular in China, his image arrived in Japan in the mid 8th cent. Hotei's image became a very popular subject in Zen painting. This poem refers to Miyamoto Musashi's famous ink painting of Hotei watching two roosters fighting. Even the god of happiness cannot stop a fight once it begins. We don't really know what Musashi meant when he drew this. Many thanks for the nice poem!

Hotei.

Uke?

Oh, my!

--

Hotei. Happy Monk.

Buddhist Santa with a sack

Collecting pennies.

(see No. 12 at http://www.quangduc.net/English/stor...story1-20.html)

---

Hotei has so much to give,

He even tries to balance Daruma on his head.

Will he stay? Or fall?

Let's have a good look!

(Reikai, 1877-1946). http://www.shambhala.com/zenart/html...detail/z13.cfm

Cyber friends

Weaving threads in space,

This unbreakable rope!

Sensei tells me

send me your

troubles

and lightens my

burden

that i may take

just one

more step

Who is sensei?

Who walks ahead,

Who guides,

Who teaches,

Who worries,

Who cares.

Who wonders

What it is all about?

And who keeps going,

With students, friends,

All by himself. . . . .

We can be frank about rank,

We can drink 'till we stink,

Whatever I say will not make your day.

So keep your fears with what you hold dear,

And let's stop here and have beer!

(Sorry, I just kidding about the beer but how about some tea? Hahaha!)

I can be Frank about anything, haha!

How can I not be Frank?

But with too much beer I may become

Frank in stein.

Groan.

Please throw your tea at me now!

(this is indeed a silly poem!)

:::throws tea at Frank:::

er... hmm. Did you mean that literally? or were you just being poetic and stuff?

/ducks

/hides

/throws some more tea

/hides some more

I hope Frank is not the Frank I see,

Throwing all about this tea,

One too many beers or three,

Or one too many hard ukemi?

Someone find the true-blue Frank,

Someone check the smelly drunk tank,

Where is that friend of mine?

He must be this Frankenstein!

This beer monster talk

brings Shoki to mind (Boy's Day);

Slice all my demons!

(Actually, I never drank very much at all; since I was a boy and saw how "Okame turns to Hannya" after too much sake. Restraint in use of intoxicants is is a common Buddhist precept as well as Western monastic--"We read that monks should not drink wine at all, but since the monks of our day [600 AD!] cannot be convinced of this, let us at least agree to drink moderately, and not to the point of excess, for 'wine makes even wise men go astray'" (Rule of Benedict, 40:6-7)

Sensei, please forgive my silliness!

Zen priests do not drink, they ask for "the tea of wisdom" which means alcohol. Haha!

From when I was very young, my first teacher told me about Yukawa Sensei, one of O'Sensei's early students and how he died, so I promised myself never to drink. I still do not drink to this day. In many very old temples in Japan, drinking alcohol is absolutely forbidden.

Japanese have a custom of drinking a lot at festivals. Sake, rice wine, is one of the sacred offerings to the gods. The custom is that the gods are happy only if they look down and see humans being happy - so everyone drinks and celebrates! The formal verb "asobasu" or "asobu" means to play (like children) but also means "to move like the gods." This shows, from ancient times, the idea of celebration of the gods and having a good time or being at play. . . . . .

Talking about alcohol on an "Aikido" website, please go to confession! Hahahah!

Our play turns sober;

Ponder mindful consumption,

Fifth precept, again.

http://www.saigon.com/~anson/ebud/tnh5p/precept5.htm

Another "fifth?"

Can't get away from alcohol can you?

Hahahah!

Let's eventually make our way back to Aikido,

Before we lose everyone we know!

Thanks

At one point of time I smoke

In another I drink

My lungs choke

My brain can't think

Start to see tabaco and alcohol as taboo

No longer these I will do

----------------------------

I've completely stopped smoking for almost a year now. I never was a heavy smoker, but I did smoke nonetheless. I've stopped this bad habit.

As for alcohol, I've actually started to avoid the stuff. Didn't think much of it in the past. But, I'm avoiding it for a couple of reasons, one is for the very same reason that Furuya-sensei said, the other is for religious reason.

Thanks - I don't like to drink because of my training and also for the precepts which I observe as a priest. But drinking is not all bad. I know that they say one glass of red wine a day is very good for the circulation and gives the body lotsa of iron. . . . and is good for the heart. I have seen too many people in Aikido drink too much so this is another reason why I don't encourage it among my students. . . . . . I see a lot of priests drink too. It's not to judge if that is the way they go. . . . .

My father got bad lungs from tobaccco. The wife of a famous Taiji teacher I know died from inhaling too much cigarette smoke while in China where they smoke a lot. . . . she developed a little cough and was gone in six months. Such a big shame and so very sad! I think we take in enough drugs and chemicals and bad air as it is in our daily lives - no use adding to it, I imagine!

A famous teacher of swords I know had a pen name, "Drunk on Swords." Maybe we should be happy to be drunk on Aikido! Best wishes!

Dear Furuya Sensei,

Wow. When I read your first line, Another "fifth?", I thought the subject was a musical interval! I have not heard that word used as a volumetric measure for a long time. Maybe I've spent too much time with monks and studying chants!

I'm very happy that you as a Sensei and priest show a good example. I remember very clearly how, when I was a teenager, I was bothered by two "human" role models. Of course, teenagers might expect their heroes to be perfect! One was a priest who shocked me when he pulled his cigarettes out from under his robes and lit up while we were talking. The other was at a very nice aikido dojo where after class many students went to the bar next door; I felt very uncomfortable (also, I was a good deal below "legal age"!). Now I look back and realize we are all just humans; but at the time I was disappointed by these leaders.

"The Path is exceedingly vast.

From ancient times to the present day, even the greatest sages were unable to perceive and comprehend the entire truth;

the explanation and teachings of masters and saints express only part of the whole.

It is not possible for anyone to speak of such things in their entirety.

Just head for the light and heat, learn from the gods, and through the virtue of devoted practice of the Art of Peace, become one with the Divine." (Art of Peace, 113)

Pointing to the South,

I hope to be to others,

A stone on the Path.

There's a line form a Japanese animation, "Gensoumaden Saiyuuki", that I like in reference of alcohol:

In order for its taste

Sake has to be matured

In order to enjoy it

One also needs to be matured

Goose cry fills dawn fog.

They cannot see each other.

So we walk the Way.

So many faceless friends,

Chatting on this internet together,

When does this morning fog will lift?

Mr. Frank Hale: Many thanks for your kind message. I don't consider myself such a great example. Perhaps I am too afraid of all my many vices that I try to watch them too carefully. I don't have the courage or priviledge to break so many rules as many more enlightened people! Hahaha!

Like yourself and everyone else in such an art as this, I have had occasion to be so disappointed in instructors and others that I have come to respect and hold up as a model for myself. We all go through this at one time or another in our training. I see this subject discussed often here on the internet. . . . . .

When I was first ordained as a priest, my Zen master told me this, "Everything in this temple and what you do is unfair and unjust. If you are not prepared to accept this, you will have a lot of trouble! I myself am totally selfish and only think of myself and no one else. Don't expect anything from me because I don't care about anything but myself!"

When he said this to me, I was totally shocked but thought that this is all a part of the normal "dialogue" and "chit-chat" that we always hear about. But in the first several years, I really suffered because there was so much I didn't understand and "people" can always be or appear to be a big disappointment, especially all of the seniors around me. . . . . . My teacher's words always stuck to me and that is what carried me through everything. Later, I realized that it was not really so "unjust" or "unfair" it is just people being people and that is the way it is wherever you go, even in a temple or dojo.

At the beginning, it is easy to set up ideals (which might be a little too unrealistic) and high expectations about Aikido and teachers and organizations and such as we see here in the internet all of the time. I think there is a "probation time" which allows us, through correct training, to settle back to earth and look at the art in a more "natural" way. I don't say, "reasonable" or "logical!"

Once, a soldier asked the world conquerer, Alexander, the Great: "You are like a god!"

Alexander replied, "Ask the person who empties my chamber pot each morning!"

As I recall old memories here, I would like to relate one more episode in my temple training mayn years ago. Once a monk came for training to our temple from Japan. I was not under the local temple which my teacher was head of but the North American Headquarters and it was a center for training for many monks. I happened to be there when he had his first interview with my teacher.

My teacher looked at him and said, "You are here for a while. I think your father must have given you a great deal of money for your stay. Hand it all over to me!"

We were both surprised at that moment and later this priest confessed to me, "I thought he was some kind of thief at first who was going to steal all me money!"

Then my teacher told him: "You come here to my temple thinking that you are going to have a good time and that we are going to give you everything! You think you are here to take, take, take and then leave. That is a big mistake! When you come to this temple, you come to give, give, give. You must give of yourself in order to train yourself, it is not a matter of thinking about all you can get. I expect you to work hard and do your best. You must give, not take away! I will keep your money and return it to you when you are ready to return to Japan!"

We were both so shocked when we heard these words but later, I was so impressed with my teacher. I see this all of the time in the dojo and in Aikido. Most people come into practice and into the dojo thinking only about what they are going to get. So many people nowadays have this attitude of take, take, take. . . . . and "me, me, me." These students either change their mental perspective or never do well in Aikido, I think. Over all these years, I know these this to be true in many cases. . . . .

Dear Furuya Sensei,

There is a new thread on AikiWeb this morning, under Training, "What does aikido cost?" I tried to make a meager answer. Could you please share with us what you "paid," and still "pay" for aikido? Dozo...