Offering 2024–038

a conundrum -

what to do
when one’s creative alms bowl
is empty?

— —

This haiku is a haiku about writing today’s haiku.

Confused? Read on…

In many Buddhist traditions, monastics will go on an ‘alms round’ every day in a village near their monastery. Moving silently through the village, the monks hold an alms bowl to gather food from the laity. In many cases, the food gathered will be the sole meal the monks will eat all day. For the monks, this is an exercise of non-attachment and assists them in their quest for enlightenment. For the laity, this provides an opportunity to be generous and show gratitude for the teachings the monks provide.

As regular readers of this space know, I post something every morning. While I try to work a few days ahead, that hasn’t been the case recently. More and more, I’ve found myself sitting in my chair with my figurative alms bowl waiting for creative ideas to appear. Some days the world is generous and my bowl is overflowing…

… then there’s days like today where it seems I struggle just to string a couple of thoughts together.

As many of you know, I’ve explored the theme of interconnection quite a bit in my recent writings. This is another example of that. I could be the most talented writer in the world (I’m not), but those skills would be wasted if I didn’t live life in a way that generates thoughts and ideas and feelings to write about.

Here in a few minutes, I’ll press the enter key on this entry and launch it into the universe. I’ll then start the process of getting ready for work. As I walk out the door for the day, I’ll be sure to grab my mental alms bowl and carry it with me waiting for the universe to be generous.