Buddha, Teaching Fourfold Path
walking winter grove
finds boot tread-shattered snow bones
mud’s deep-cloven tracks
posted signs by armed unread
honor between neighbors stretched
iced breeze reddens cheeks, fills heart
cold crows overhead
scold earthly expectation
squirrels rustle through dried oak leaves
pond willow’s storm-fallen limbs
red pine lean east from long winds
chickadees hop along twigs
winter seclusion
dark season’s careful teacher
leads by example
refashions expectations
accepts in each its nature
creek, clear and cold, gurgles yessss
all answers display
in receptivity’s eye
human hunters live
as crows scold, squirrels rustle,
limbs fall, trunks lean, chickadees
now home, warm quilt, hot milk tea
This series is an experiment with the Bussokusekika form (11 of the 24 forms.) Examples of the form were found in Japan beside the stone Buddha Foot Monument and included ones that “extol the four-fold Buddhist path and advise against worldly attachments.” I used my simple understanding the four-fold Buddhist path in writing the series of four.
My simple understanding of them (distilled from wikipedia definitions):
1) suffering is an innate characteristic of the perpetual cycle of wandering to grasp at things, ideas, and habits
2) the cause of suffering arises simultaneously with craving, desire, or attachment
3) suffering can be ended or contained by letting go of craving, desire, attachment
4) marga is the path leading to the letting go of craving, desire, or attachment and the perpetual cycle of suffering caused by it.
Kigo used (inspired by a walk out back this afternoon) include:
winter grove
snow bones
hunting
cold crows
winter seclusion
anticipation (a form of expectation)
fallen leaves (dried oak)
clear and cold
cold
quilt
A final note: poetic license is used here. I found no hunter’s boot tracks out back.
Colleen Chesebro is the host of Tanka Tuesday. Colleen says:
Write syllabic poetry using seasonal kigo.
Also linking this up to dVerse’ Open Link Night, where Bjorn is hosting.
Tao Talk 
What a beautifully written poem, vividly describing the winter scene
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Thanks much, Sadje.
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My pleasure 😇
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Again I can feel the cold and barren scene from here…alone with the squirrels.
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It did feel cold and barren out there. The sun has stopped shining.
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Yes….and now I’m on our couch and Martha just pushed the front door open and the cold is coming in…so the story fit.
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:)
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So wintery, I am captivated by cold crows … expectations
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Paul, thank you!
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This just up my street and a real pleasure to read here tonight. You clearly got the form just about right, because the spiritual themes and sensibilities come piling on through, in way I soon found myself resonating with – really enjoying the richness and musical density of the writing, along with all its interplays and juxtapositions. Lovely stuff – real treat for me – Thank you…
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Scott, your feedback on and connection with the poem is appreciated, thanks much. Sometimes (always?) difficult to gauge how others will regard a poem.
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I love the wintry imagery, but those hunters are really scary. I think just the presence of guns close by would make me uneasy
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Bjorn, it is like (literally) being caught between the crossfire. I much enjoyed our live OLN today and happy to get to vent some and hear how other places do hunting.
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I know nothing about Buddhism spirituality, but I can feel different vibes in your winter poem to the ones I get walking out in the woods. There is usually a hunter’s footprint, empty cartridge case etc etc.
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Thanks, Someone.
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I love the personification of nature in this. Some of my favorite parts:
“boot tread-shattered snow bones”
“iced breeze reddens cheeks, fills heart”
“cold crows overhead”
“creek, clear and cold, gurgles yessss”
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Thanks much, Melissa!
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So VERY glad you were at OLN LIVE today! So fun to chat with you, here your comments on readings, and learn about snow bones! I shall always look for them now.
Loved the imagery you’re shared with us in these poems.
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Lillian, happy to chat with you also. Thank you.
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I love the imagery of Winter, presented in a way that , when read, feels like a gentle, snowy and shimmery enchantment. I have never heard of the form before, so thank you for including the write – up about your creative process.
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Thank you very much, Oloriel.
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I like especially
“cold crows overhead
scold earthly expectation”–
you really captured the atmosphere of your walk well. (K)
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Kerfe, thank you very much.
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I was much relieved at the comfort of a quilt and a hot cuppa at the end after all that cold.
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So was I, Petru :)
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Love this especially; “winter seclusion dark season’s careful teacher leads by example.” Gorgeously rendered, Lisa 🩷🩷
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Sanaa thank you and glad you enjoyed it.
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It was so great to see and hear you read yesterday, Lisa!
Such vivid images! I especially liked the “snow bones” and “cold crows.”
Those hunters are scary! We don’t have them right in our neighborhood, but they do hunt around here. And in the school district where my husband and daughter taught, kids missed school during deer hunting season.
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Great to see you and the rest of the pubsters also. Hunters are sneaky and have to be to get a deer, but drunk they are twice as dangerous. Deer hunting is a tradition in Michigan also, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it.
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Yesterday when I was walking in the fog, I could hear shots–maybe coming from the small island in the river? I couldn’t believe people would be out hunting in the fog!!
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Hunters are worse than postmen delivering the mail when it comes to their killing.
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Powerful imagery, Lisa. I love how you’ve intertwined Buddhist thought and Western realities. ❤️
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Gwen, that’s a great way to look at it. Thank you <3
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I enjoyed your poem, Lisa, especially the first stanza. Such a great opening. This is a nice contrast to the summer poem you did earlier this week.
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Dwight, thank you so much. Summer is a fond wish and winter is a prompt guideline. What can I say, I’m a slave to the seasons :)
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Ha ha… I understand. I am ready for each one when it comes around.
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Your poem gave me chills, Lisa! I love the crisp sound of ‘walking winter grove
finds boot tread-shattered snow bones’, the cold crows scolding earthly expectation and the ‘creek, clear and cold’ that ‘gurgles yessss’. Thank goodness for the warm quilt and hot tea.
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Kim, thank you very much. Is it true that snow bones is a term in the UK? Colleen had it in her kigo list for this week’s prompt and it delights me.
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I haven’t heard it used before, but I looked it up and it’s in the OED, apparently from the seventeenth century.
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Thanks for the info!
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Lisa, as a fellow Buddhist (and pagan) I have to tell you… this is beyond stunning! I love this so much, I’m going to print it out and add it to my altar. You hit on all the kigo themes and connected them to the Four Noble Truths and the eightfold path. (https://teachingsofthebuddha.com/the-four-noble-truths-and-the-eightfold-path-explained/). This poem was an emotional read. Thanks so much! I love it! ❤️🙏🏻
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Colleen, I am honored to have you add it to your altar. Thank you for the link, I’ll check it out. You are very welcome.
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Brilliant work, Lisa. I love this so much! 💛
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Very unique. Using images to expound on the four-fold path with each stanza progressing towards catharsis or release.
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Thank you, OP! It’s fun to experiment with writing just to see what happens.
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I can feel the coldness and seclusion of winter as I read…cold crows overhead
scold earthly expectation
squirrels rustle through dried oak leaves
pond willow’s storm-fallen limbs
red pine lean east from long winds
chickadees hop along twigs
I can just hear those scolding crows!! They like to let you know when they’re not happy. :) Interesting form that I would like to know more about.
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Thank you very much, Di. Glad you felt the atmosphere of seclusion. If you click on the form name it will take you to more info on it.
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It was good seeing you and hearing you read Lisa
Much♡love
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Same here, Gillena <3 Been hunting any moose lately? ;) Hope you are feeling well after your surgery.
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Gillena just listened again to the recording of your wonderful character study that makes me think of a particular leader trying to be president again.
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Hi Lisa — I’ve really enjoyed the OLN Live Thursdays, sorry to hear they’re going away. Reading and contributing to the poetry of the d’verse online community has been wonderful, and I hope I am able to in the new year… it is my intention — when possible. Kathy comes home this Wednesday, and it appears we will be rejoining her battle, so my writing may be less frequent into the future — we will see what presents itself, as I am also dealing with my own issues. This is my 20th year posting poetry online, across a number of wonderful organized sites… and it is a joy I will not allow myself to completely abandon. I am sending this message to those in this dVerse community to whom I am most drawn, and who have shown me consistent kindness. Happy holiday to you my friend. You are a pleasure to read. ✌🏼🫶🏼
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Rob, your update is appreciated. Hoping to see you at dVerse on the poetry trail if not live. Saturdays at 10a.m. are tough for me and I’m sure 7 a.m. is tougher for you. Please feel free to email me at ms_jade_li@hotmail.com also. Please don’t give up on posting your wonderful art and lively poetry. I saw a comment on one of the older poems at OLN from Glenn the other day and it again made me realize how much I miss his presence at dVerse.
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Lovely seasonal poem with such a cosy ending. I particularly enjoyed the third stanza and the line “dark season’s careful teacher.” :-)
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Sunra, thank you very much.
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Beautiful poetry, and I enjoyed all the thought that went into it. I read it through, then again with a different understanding. It’s lovely, my friend.
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D, thank you for taking time with the poem. Much appreciated.
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My pleasure!
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Powerfully written and wisely reasoned!
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Boz, much appreciated, thanks.
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Lisa,
I liked, “cold crows overhead
scold earthly expectation”
I always feel like they are scolding me from above.
You did a great job of capturing the senses in your poem.
Happy Holidays,
Ali
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Thanks, Ali, and Happy Holidays!
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How wonderful this is, Lisa… Your poem sings to me.
<3
David
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Happy you enjoyed my song here. Thank you <3
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Occasionally when it snows I can find deer and bird tracks.
Sometimes the voles will tunnel under the snow.
Nature is good at twisting those rooted things that grow…
Sometimes even men are twisted – I’m reading a tale of Vikings and one of the Nasty guys… well he is well twisted indeed.
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I have not yet done this prompt… between laundry I’m trying to catch up on visits…
In a brief period without slight elivated fever – I filled feeders the other day… after the snow. I think I saw bunny tracks :) There are also limbs down… but they will have to wait..
As for my discomfort now, I was just in the way of someone elses germs…. I was reading that you don’t have a fever when you have a cold, but you do when you have the flu.
At least my throat doesn’t hurt… but my voice is only at a whisper.
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Take it easy, Jules, and drink plenty of hot herbal tea.
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…trying…
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A wonderful poem Lisa :-) you captured the essence of winter so beautifully here!
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Thank you, Carol Anne :)
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