Profile: whatmadeyouhappytoday

Your personal background. 朝顔に片肌入れし羅漢哉 asagao ni katahada ireshi rakan kana into morning-glories with one shoulder bare... holy man The "holy man" (rakan) is a Buddhist arhat ... one who has attained enlightenment. The juxtaposition of saintly and earthly--in this case, a Buddhist holy man and morning-glories--is one of Issa's favorite themes. At first, the saint and the flowers seem mutually incompatible, almost enemies. Enlightened people, after all, are supposed to be unattached to the temporary beauties of this temporary world. However, this particular holy man strides boldly into, not away from, the flowers. Issa's message is both complex and beautiful. On one level, he's suggesting that it is spiritually intelligent to enjoy Nature's beauty here and now, however fleeting. On another level, he hints that flowers show the way to enlightenment. Flowers teach Buddhist wisdom. If we would only learn from the flowers: how they bloom and then, without a word of complaint to the universe, shrivel and fall ... we, like the arhat, would be enlightened. Your feedback on this profile Recommend this profile for User of the Day: I like this profile Alert administrators to an offensive profile: I do not like this profile

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