The ordinary and the extraordinary

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  • Myozan Kodo
    Friend of Treeleaf
    • May 2010
    • 1901

    The ordinary and the extraordinary

    Hi all,
    If you decide to indulge my foolish ramblings, here is my first attempt at a talk for this 'Unsui Corner'. At the end are the two poems by Paddy Kavanagh that I refer to:



    Canal Bank Walk

    Leafy-with-love banks and the green waters of the canal
    Pouring redemption for me, that I do
    The will of God, wallow in the habitual, the banal,
    Grow with nature again as before I grew.
    The bright stick trapped, the breeze adding a third
    Party to the couple kissing on an old seat,
    And a bird gathering materials for the nest for the Word
    Eloquently new and abandoned to its delirious beat.
    O unworn world enrapture me, encapture me in a web
    Of fabulous grass and eternal voices by a beech,
    Feed the gaping need of my senses, give me ad lib
    To pray unselfconsciously with overflowing speech
    For this soul needs to be honoured with a new dress woven
    From green and blue things and arguments that cannot be proven.

    #

    Lines Written on a Seat
    on the Grand Canal, Dublin

    'Erected to the memory of Mrs. Dermot O'Brien'

    O commemorate me where there is water,
    Canal water, preferably, so stilly
    Greeny at the heart of summer. Brother
    Commemorate me thus beautifully
    Where by a lock niagarously roars
    The falls for those who sit in the tremendous silence
    Of mid-July. No one will speak in prose
    Who finds his way to these Parnassian islands.
    A swan goes by head low with many apologies,
    Fantastic light looks through the eyes of bridges -
    And look! a barge comes bringing from Athy
    And other far-flung towns mythologies.
    O commemorate me with no hero-courageous
    Tomb - just a canal-bank seat for the passer-by.


    Gassho
    Myozan
    Last edited by Myozan Kodo; 05-29-2013, 08:45 AM.
  • Mp

    #2
    Myozan, that was a wonderful talk ... the mystery, the beauty!

    Gassho
    Shingen

    Comment

    • Daisho
      Member
      • May 2012
      • 197

      #3
      Thank you, Myozan for that share in your wonderful brogue. It was the perfect cap to my day,
      Gassho,

      Daisho


      (Jack K.)

      Comment

      • Kokuu
        Dharma Transmitted Priest
        • Nov 2012
        • 6895

        #4
        Thank you, Myozan. Beautiful poems and thoughts. You have given me pause to consider my own touchstones and relationship with the ordinary.

        Gassho
        Andy

        Comment

        • Myoku
          Member
          • Jul 2010
          • 1491

          #5
          Thank you Myozan,
          good to see you, hear you. Your talk leaves me a bit speechless,
          very, very nice and a lot I can relate to. Live in every moment, a
          mystery indeed.
          Gassho and thank you,
          Myoku

          Comment

          • Shokai
            Dharma Transmitted Priest
            • Mar 2009
            • 6443

            #6
            Thank you Myozan;

            As we sat this morning together
            Searching the mystery of our lives
            Did you hear the geese fly over
            Or the ticking of the clock

            As we sat this morning together
            Searching the mystery of our lives
            Our minds were not involved
            Nor did the cardinal's song detract

            Let's do this again sometime

            合掌,生開
            gassho, Shokai

            仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

            "Open to life in a benevolent way"

            https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/

            Comment

            • Dokan
              Friend of Treeleaf
              • Dec 2010
              • 1222

              #7
              Hearing your words,
              Seeing your smile,
              Remembering waiting in the hall before Tokudo,
              I am grateful for all your teachings.

              Deep bows,

              Dokan
              We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.
              ~Anaïs Nin

              Comment

              • Jiken
                Member
                • Jan 2011
                • 753

                #8
                I appreciate you sharing these poems and thoughts so close to your heart.

                Gassho,

                Daido

                Comment

                • andyZ
                  Member
                  • Aug 2011
                  • 303

                  #9
                  Thank you Myozan. As if I just walked with you and Kavanagh along the Grand Canal. Mystic teaching indeed.
                  Gassho,
                  Andy

                  Comment

                  • Jinyo
                    Member
                    • Jan 2012
                    • 1957

                    #10
                    Beautiful - thank you Myozan.

                    Gassho

                    Willow

                    Comment

                    • Yugen

                      #11
                      Myozan,
                      Wonderful, Thank you. Wonderful poems - your use of silence, and pauses, and direct eye contact is very powerful. Sometimes silence, well placed, is more powerful than speech. A wonderful lesson.

                      Gassho
                      Yugen

                      Comment

                      • Heisoku
                        Member
                        • Jun 2010
                        • 1338

                        #12
                        Thank you Myozan for reminding me of moments of relative and absolute.
                        Gassho.
                        Heisoku 平 息
                        Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. (Basho)

                        Comment

                        • Hans
                          Member
                          • Mar 2007
                          • 1853

                          #13
                          Hello Myozan,

                          thank you for sharing these poems and your words with us!

                          Gassho,

                          Hans Chudo Mongen

                          Comment

                          • Oheso
                            Member
                            • Jan 2013
                            • 294

                            #14
                            exquisite words. thank you, Myozan, always grateful to have poetry pointed out to me.

                            -Robert

                            gassho
                            and neither are they otherwise.

                            Comment

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