Assignment:

Message no. 4: posted by Deborah Vess (IDST_2310) on Sat Aug 19, 2000 17:39 Subject assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

You are a young the great Haiku poet Basho, and you have spent many moons in Japanese zen gardens, have immersed yourself in the teachings of Buddhism, adore the Japanese Way of Tea, and have miraculously just traveled through time and studied the art of Hokusai. In just three lines you have become adept at expressing the nature of the world and your view of eternity as seen in the smallest instant of time. In fact, you are so good at composing Haiku that a new one has just occurred to you....

Please share your poem with your peers. I know you are a whiz, be but be sure your poem has 5 syllables in line one, 7 syllables in line 2, and 5 syllables in line 3. And remember, your audience is not as insightful as you are, so be sure to focus on some aspect of nature; paint the picture with broad brush strokes in line one, then focus on a single instant in line two, and then conclude your poem in line 3. Finally, add a paragraph explaining to those unfamiliar with your art how your Haiku poem reflects Japanese views of nature (including those seen in zen gardens, Japanese landscape art, and the tea ceremony)!

Have fun!

Student postings:

Message no. 311: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 13 on Mon Nov 20, 2000 09:51 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

Soft, a white turtle dove

The sand is light and grainy

Smooth, a peach blossom

My haiku is descriptive of the Zen gardens we made in class. The subject is the sand. My first line describes how soft the sand is, like a turtle dove. Doves are also peaceful birds, so this reflects the peacefulness of the garden. My second line describes the sand in the garden. My third line describes how smooth the sand is, like a peach blossom. Peach blossoms are also important to the Japanese because they reflect nature and how fast it changes.

Message no. 313: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 16 on Mon Nov 20, 2000 20:19 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

Walking peacefully

Cherry blossoms blooming

Short and Beautiful

In the first line of my poem I describe walking through a Zen garden. Japanese gardens are meant to be quiet and peaceful for meditation. My second line talks about cherry blosoms beacuse they are important to the Japanese. My third line describes the cherry blossoms and nature. Although they are beautiful, they are only here and in bloom for a short time, so one must grasp their beauty while they can.

Message no. 314: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 5 on Tue Nov 21, 2000 08:39 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

Spirit of nature

Sweetly caresses the air

And vanish away

The first lines introduces the Kami of the Cherry blossom. In the second line, when the blossoms bloom the wind sweeps them in the air. This sometimes causes a shower of blossoms. The last line shows that the blossoms do not stay long. The Japenese have to rejoice in the beauty of the cherry blossom before it is gone.

Message no. 317: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 14 on Tue Nov 21, 2000 13:03 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

After a cold night,

the mother goat walks alone.

No twins at her side.

I wrote this poem because it happened to be what was on my mind at the time you gave us the assignment. It was also a specific moment in time which is something that Haiku attempts to capture. This experience was personal to me, and it illustrated to me how precious life can be and that sometimes nature doesn't intend things to be how you would like them to be. At first, I had tried to interfere with nature. I am a perfectionist, which is exactly what this event and my Zen garden showed. When things didn't turn out perfectly, I almost let the situation get the best of me, and in my garden I used mostly polished rocks--another sign of my perfectionist personality. I am not a very good representation of the Way (Tao) because of my great need to alter things. Taoists work with what they've got, and perfect to them is just how things are.

Message no. 318: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 18 on Sun Nov 26, 2000 00:36 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

The Peach Blossoms light

Sand is rough and course

In the Garden peaceful

The first line of my Haiku is how I picture peach blossoms as looking and feeling. The second line of my poem describes the sand in my Zen Garden. The third line of my poem describes how when you put the sand and the peach blossoms in the same garden how they would make me feel even though the sand is rough and the peach blossoms are light the two seen in the same garden would make me feel calm and peaceful.

Message no. 321: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 28 on Sun Nov 26, 2000 20:57 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

A garden of sun tranquility is total ordered peace of mind The first line is the kami of the sun and the interaction with the Zen garden. How the shadow falls behind the stones and how the sun caresses the rocky uneven and random surface of the stones. The second line represents the peace and beauty of the Zen garden. Third line is the effect a person gets from looking at a Zen garden or meditating next to it. I find the Zen garden as one of the most beautiful things to look upon. It is so tranqualizing and just beautiful...it makes me feel so good to look at a real Zen garden. I have seen one a couple of times in my life and that experience leaps back to my memory from time to time. Simply beautiful...

Message no. 323: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 3 on Sun Nov 26, 2000 23:35 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

Cold is among us,

it strips the horizon now,

there is no comfort

I chose to make commentary on the weather that we are now experiencing. The cold is slowly taking the colors and lushness of Fall and doing away with it. I take notice because I stay cold, regardless of the measures I take to stay warm.

Message no. 331: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 4 on Mon Nov 27, 2000 21:12 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

In the calm of day

Unconcerned a bee flies

from Flower to flower.

This haiku expresses the ideas of nature in the Japanese culture. A haiku has the ability to express time, emotions and surroundings in only three lines. The haiku is normally nature related. A small bee, compared to the rest of the world, is busy doing his work in a leisurely fashion. He does not have all the normal, everyday worries that most humans have. Even the act of flying from flower to flower is soothing. The same is protrayed in Japanese Zen gardens and landscape art. Both are meant to convey a sense of peace and facilitate meditation and calm. The bee also has a method of collecting pollen from the flowers as well, which is similar to the methods used in the Japanese Way of Tea. There are rules that must be followed and none of them can be skipped. Did you ever see a bee that flew up to a flower and then kept going and the pollen just happened to jump on the bee? No, he has a specific way of doing it and does it the same way every time. The situation with the bee represents the laws of nature and also exemplifies peace and calm. There is an order to it, yet there is none at the same time. It is NATURE.

Message no. 333: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 21 on Mon Nov 27, 2000 21:23 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

"The Rocky Road Ahead" There are rocks nearby Goals are made to be achieved With a happy end. My haiku is describing my Zen Garden...There were many rocks around the center of the garden which had a perfectly round rock and a square rock...The center of the garden showed a happy life with few problems and the rough rocks surrounding the center represented many problems in life...So, the first line is telling the reader that there are problems and goals that are near...The second line is depicting that these same goals are made to be overcome...and the last line is stating that hopefully the goals will be achieved and the problems will be fixed.

Message no. 334: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 6 on Mon Nov 27, 2000 21:34 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

The rush of the waves

Wind beats the sails wildly

The sun on my back

My Haiku is about sailing. My element of power is water and anything that has to do with water will help me relax or help get energized.I find that racing over the water is very relaxing. The first 2 lines describe the energy when I first get the sails up and I'm racing over the waves. The last line is about the relaxing feeling I get when the wind blows my hair and the sun warming my body and the sound of the waves. I like the feeling that I can go so far out onto the water at land is just a tiny spot on the horizion and then it disappears alltogether. There is a very tranquil feeling that I can leave the world behind- leave all my problems behind. Thats were I find peace.

Message no. 340: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 19 on Tue Nov 28, 2000 08:53 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

Wind is in the trees

Blowing and twisting the leaves

Can't hold on - Leaf falls.

My Haiku represents the Japanese view of nature by the fact that it expresses how beautiful life is, and how active. But also how brief...beauty is fleeting and can be gone in an instant. That idea is shown through the fluttering leaves that are beautiful to watch, to the instant where the leaf simply can't hold on anymore, and must let go. lori johnson

Message no. 341: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 30 on Tue Nov 28, 2000 09:21 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

The sand is cold, wavy

The rocks smooth like painted strokes.

Chaotic and changes.

My poem represent my Zen Garden and nature. The lines I made in the sand were wavy and circular. The sand felt cold to my hands. The rocks I chose to have in my garden were very smooth. I did not plan it that way, but I guess I like smooth rocks. I looked at my Zen Garden as being chaotic and able to change because one slight movement and my sand could move and my rocks could slide. This is how I represented my Zen Garden in my poem. Morgan stallings

Message no. 345: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 15 on Tue Nov 28, 2000 09:54 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

Leaves cover the ground,

and all around is the sound,

of winter.

My three lines represent the change in nature between the fall and winter. You can almost hear the silence of winter coming with the falling of leaves. Sort of like the beauty of a zen garden. The leaves paint their own picture of life and nature as we aspproach the season of death. But once the leaves return to the trees the world will be alive again.

Message no. 348: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 24 on Tue Nov 28, 2000 10:49 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

water keeps flowing

surrounding the entire world

find peace and serinity

my haiku poem represents being clensed. the japanese think that water clenses you. many people will travel great distances to get to water so that there spirit and soul can be clensed. after you are clensed you find peace and serinity. this belief comes not only from the japanese but from many other cultures as well.

Message no. 353: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 7 on Tue Nov 28, 2000 15:22 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

The wind twists and turns

Making the leaves fall and dance

As fall takes it's stance

The first stanza has five syllables and is describing the wind. Around the zin garden I observered the nature and I was fascinated with the wind. The second stanza has seven syllables and is describing how the wind makes the leaves dance. How the wind gives the leaves life and they come alive and dance. The third line has five syllables and is describing the season change. When the leaves start to fall and dnace is a symbol of fall. I love watching the wind dance with the leaves and seeing nature take on such beautiful forms.

Message no. 357: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 25 on Tue Nov 28, 2000 22:34 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

Sun rays beating down

Warms the earth and its creatures

Like fire from the sky

The japanese think very highly of nature. In their Haiku poetry, they take a single aspect of nature or even just a single moment and express it in three lines and only a total of 17 sylables. The japanese love of nature is also expressed in the Zen Garden. Zen garden's were created after a water shortage in Japan. The posittion rocks and made swirls around them. The rocks and swirls not only represent nature but the person who created the garden as well. My poem is about how the sun warms the earth and every thing on it, kind of like a fire can keep you warm. I thought of it while i was driving home fom class and stopped at a traffic light and noticed how quickly it got hot in my car when i wasnt moving and my AC was not on Dawn

Message no. 363: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 11 on Thu Nov 30, 2000 18:22 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

Fluttering, flowing,

Petals are slowly growing,

soon they will wither.

My poem talks about the peach Blossoms. Line one describes them and line two is when they are growing. Line three is when they are dying. The entire poem describes the fleeting nature of these blossoms and how intensly beautiful they are when they are there and how quickly they fade.

Message no. 364: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 32 on Sat Dec 02, 2000 18:13 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

Heaven under the sea. My haiku is snorkling.my powering element is swiming along the fishes and crustaceans in this underwater paradise, conveying a state of nirvana.The first line of the poem would describe the kami of the underwater wonderland.The second line would describe the whole underwater community and the total bliss experience. the last line would be the effect you get from being engulfed by the totalness of beauty project by the coral reefs. this whole journey is like a separation from the rest of the world.

Message no. 416: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 20 on Thu Dec 14, 2000 15:53 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

Outside sky is gray

There are no birds chirping now

Now winter is here

I chose to write a poem about nature and the weather that surrounds it. They seasons are changing and I wanted to write about this special moment in this time of the year. The cold has started to take over and things are changing. There no longer are beautiful birds singing their songs in beautiful weather, but it will be back soon.

Message no. 426: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 22 on Sat Dec 16, 2000 12:53 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

My emotions flow

the water rolls over rocks

I will grow from these changes.

This haiku is used to express the problems that I am making right now in my life. In my Zen Garden I had very large and ackward shaped rocks. These rocks made it hard for me to shape the sand around ti in a very smooth manner. The rocks are symbolic of my problems. The water and sand are symbolic of the way that I react to the problems and situations I am facing. Thew last line shows a taoist belief by making myself available and willin got grow and change from these experiences.

Message no. 428: [Branch from no. 4] posted by student 29 on Sat Dec 16, 2000 21:00 Subject re: assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of nature

ripple, 'round the stone

flows the cresent moon alone

om the word stone curves

Message no. 310: posted by student 10 on Sat Nov 18, 2000 19:20 Subject Japanese garden.

Small rocks that expalin easy Times in my life. Zen.

Message no. 325: [Branch from no. 310] posted by student 10 on Mon Nov 27, 2000 19:27 Subject re: Japanese garden

Small rocks that explain

easy Times in my life Zen

I worte this haiku to show what my Zen garden brought out in me. The garden explained that nothing real seriuos or stressful was going on in my life right now. At least at the time that I made the garden in class. However, that is changing now that studying for finals has already begun. My garden has little rocks mostly which represented my few worries and how life was going easy. That's the reason I wrote my haiku the way I did.

Message no. 312: posted by student 23 on Mon Nov 20, 2000 19:30 Subject hakiu

Problems big but few

Appearing hard to handle

Really no problem

Message no. 319: posted by student 2 on Sun Nov 26, 2000 13:49 Subject

Tickle sensation

Starts in the nose and explodes

Wonderful release.

My Haiku poem describes a sneeze. Sneezing is something that I enjoy very much, and it is gone in a second. It may not deal with nature directly, but sneezing is a natural thing. Japanese view of nature is also that it is fleeting, as is a sneeze.

Message no. 326: posted by student 10 on Mon Nov 27, 2000 19:36 Subject

This is a reposting...

Japanese garden

Small rocks that explain easy

Times in my life Zen

I wrote my haiku to describe what my Zen garden told about me. The mostly small rocks that I used in my garden represent the easy times of my life at the time I made the garden in class. Now it's changed because studying for finals has started but at that time nothing much was going on in my life. Things were going smooth and easy. That's the reason my haiku says what it does.

Message no. 336: posted by student 31 on Mon Nov 27, 2000 22:41 Subject Carolyn Boyd

sacred tree growing

quickly come and dissapear

learning as you go

This poem as well as the garden I created examplify the beliefs of Zen and Shinto. The above haiku presents a tree as a sacred being which is transient and thought prevoking. The Shinto belief in the Kami or the supernatural presence that exists in objects, is shown through this sacred tree. In our society a single tree would not be highly regarded but in the Shinto religion nature is glorified and worshiped. The idea of the cherry blossom is presented in the second line of the poem. The cherry blossom is thought of as extremly beautiful, yet this beauty only lasts a short time. This brings me to the third line. The transient beauty of the cherry blossom evokes deep thought and causes its beholder to reflect on his or her own existance and thus learn from its fleeting beauty. The garden I created reflects the Zen truth that life is full of suffering. Two of the six rocks in my garden were much larger than the others. These represent the sufferings I have endured in my lifetime. These unavoidable truths influence the shape of my life just as they influence the shape of my garden. Zen and Shinto beliefs promote reflection. Both of my pieces examplify this: the haiku on the reflection and worship of nature, and the garden on the reflection of my life.

Message no. 358: posted by student 23 on Tue Nov 28, 2000 22:59 Subject Zen

Problems big but few

Appearing hard to handle

Really no problem

My hakiu symbolize the earth and nature. In the first line nature or life has few big problems. In the second line nature may seem like it is having a hard time handleing these problems. but in the end every thing has its natural order and those problems don't see big and hard to overcome.

Message no. 418: posted by student 12 on Thu Dec 14, 2000 21:17 Subject

dragonfly soaring through the sky

graceful dragonfly,

why oh why cant I join you?

I wrote my haiku about a dragonflys because they are part of nature. Also they relate to the japanese tea ceremony because they are so graceful just as the women who serve the tea must be. The japanese revere nature for its beauty and its simplicity and they try to incorporate those concepts into their traditions and everyday lives. It would be interesting to hear how a true haiku master would interpret my haiku.

Message no. 350: posted by student 9 on Tue Nov 28, 2000 13:38 Subject assignment on Haiku and the Japanese view of art

Beautiful Garden

Filled with love, trials, and friends

Life Neverending

My Haiku poem is very personal to me. It reflects the feelings I have for my zen garden and my life as a whole. This Haiku begins with a reflection of the garden I created. My garden was beautiful to me because it contains such diversity. It has both small and large rocks. The sand has a windy path that never ends. To me the rocks represent trials in life as well as wonderful obstacles that all will face such as, friends and loved ones. In my opinion it is important to learn from every rock in our path of life, but it is also important to stop and take a look at the blessings that have been placed in our paths. The "neverending" path represents something deep and spiritual to me. I know that I have been given eternal life and although my body will die one day my spirit will continue in it's neverending journey.

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