Green Way

“One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
in the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.”
- Wallace Stevens, The Snow Man, 1921

Green Way Wisdom - Winter

Audio version of The Snow Man; read by Mike Garofalo.

Annual Usage Report for: www.gardendigest.com

Usage Report for the Month of November 2005

Detailed statistics are available for the exact usage per webpage for all webpages
at the www.gardendigest.com domain. All statistics are for .htm or .html webpages
served; and exclude counts for graphics files (.jpg or .gif) served as part of these webpages.

In November, 2005, the usage report showed the following number of webpages
(.htm or .html) served from the domain:

Spirit of Gardening 112, 523
www.gardendigest.com/

Cuttings: Haiku Poetry 35,444
www.gardendigest.com/poetry/

Concrete Poetry 19,597
www.gardendigest.com/concrete/

Zen Poetry 11,655
www.gardendigest.com/zen/

String Figures 7,439
www.gardendigest.com/string/

Total 186,658
www.gardendigest.com

Annual Estimates for 2005: www.gardendigest.com

Factoring in the fact that the summer months (June - September) have less usage than the
October - May period, I can make a reasonable estimate of usage of the webpages (.htm or .hrml)
at the www.gardendigest.com domain, excluding graphics files (.jpg and .gif) served.

In 2005, I estimate that www.gardendigest.com served the following number of webpages
(excluding graphics files: .jpg and .gif) to people around the world:

Spirit of Gardening 1,148,000
www.gardendigest.com/

Cuttings: Haiku Poetry 362,000
www.gardendigest.com/poetry/

Concrete Poetry 200,000
www.gardendigest.com/concrete/

Zen Poetry 119,000
www.gardendigest.com/zen/

String Figures 76,000
www.gardendigest.com/string/

Total 1,905,000
www.gardendigest.com

The Spirit of Gardening website has served up over 8 million webpages from
January 1, 1999 through December 31, 2005.
www.gardendigest.com/index.htm
and
www.egreenway.com/months/index.htm

The Poetry Webpages have served up over 2,298,000 webpages from
March 1, 2000 through December 31, 2005.

The Cloud Hands: Taijiquan and Qigong website has served up
over 1,240,000 webpages from January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2005.
www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/index.htm

The statistics for October usage at www.egreenway.com shows that readers around the world requested 144,910 webpages (excluding .jpg and .gif graphics files).

For the 2005 year, based on statistical analysis, www.egreenway.com sent out the following number of webpages:

Mind-Body Arts
Cloud Hands: Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong Website
Yoga, Meditation, and Fitness Websites
903,600 webpages in 2005

Months Website and Green Way Blog
602,400 webpages in 2005

Total for www.egreenway.com in webpages served:
1,506,000 webpages in 2005

I estimate that the Cloud Hands: Taijiquan and Qigong Website will have served 1,240,000 webpages to people around the world from January 1, 2003 until December 31, 2005.

Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra

“You should know that such people will have planted good roots
With not just one Buddha, two Buddhas, three, four or five Buddhas,
But will have planted good roots with measureless millions of Buddhas.
All who hear such phrases and produce even one thought
Of pure faith are completely known and completely seen by the Tathagata.
Such living beings thus obtain measureless blessings and virtue.
And why?
Those living beings have no further mark of self, of others, of living beings,
Or of a life;
No mark of dharmas and no mark of no dharmas.
If your hearts grasp at marks, then that is attachment to self, to others, to living beings, and to a life.
For that reason you should not grasp at dharmas, nor should you grasp at no dharmas.
All you Bhiksus should know that the dharma which I speak is like a raft.
Even dharmas should be relinquished, how much the more so no dharmas.”
- The Buddha, The Diamond Sutra

“As I understand what the Buddha has said, there is no concrete dharma called
Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, and there is no concrete dharma which the Tathagata
has spoken. And why? The dharmas spoken by the Tathagata cannot be grasped
and cannot be spoken. They are neither dharmas nor no dharmas. And why?
Unconditioned dharmas distinguish worthy sages.”
- The Buddha, The Diamond Sutra

‘Tathagata’ means ‘thusness of all dharmas.’ “Dharmas” means, in various contexts, ‘truths,
scriptures, insights, teachings of the Buddha, words of wisdom, path to enlightenment, etc.’

Diamond Sutra A Chinese version of the Diamond Sutra is the world’s earliest complete survival
of a dated block printed book, made in 868 CE. This rare document is now in the British Museum
collection of early printed books.  

For a number of links to the Diamond Sutra, go to my Valley Spirit Journal entry for today,
or my previous entry titled ‘Honest Doubt.” For an extensive collection of Zen Poetry, and a
detailed bibliography and links on the subject, pleased go to my webpages on Zen Poetry

Green Way Blog Homepage
Blog Search Terms: Zen, Buddhism, Diamond Sutra.

“If all our eyes had the clarity of apples
In a world as altered
As if by the wood betony
And all kinds of basil were the only rulers of the land
It would be good to be together
Both under and above the ground
To be sane as the madwort,
Ripe as corn, safe as sage,
Various as dusty miller and hens & chickens,
In politics as kindly fierce and dragonlike as tarragon,
Revolutionary as the lily.”
- Bernadette Mayer, The Garden   

Green Way Wisdom - Flowers

Since January, 1999, I have collected poems and quotes related to gardening, gardens, the plant world,
nature, and the Green Way. This collection of over 3,200 quotes arranged by over 135 topics is available
for your use online at: The Spirit of Gardening

Have a fine autumn!

Mike

Blog Search Terms: Gardening, Flowers, Poetry, Spirit of Gardening.

“Standing at the Mysterious Pass
Centered in the Eternal Now,
Balanced in Body and Open in Mind,
Rooted into the Sacred Space,
Motionless as the Golden Mountain,
Fingers around the Primeval Sphere.
Dragons and Tigers are still dreaming -
Ready for Rebirth.

I breathe in, the World Breathes Out.
The Gate of Space opens;
Heaven moves and Yang is born.
The hands move out, embracing the One.
The mind settles and is clear.
The Dragon Howls,
Ravens fill the Vast Cauldron,
Mind forms melt like mercury,
Spirit rises in the Clouds of Eternity.
Yin appears like the moon at dusk.

I breathe out, the World Breathes In.
The Doors of Emptiness close;
Earth quiets and Yin is born.
The hands move in, entering the One.
The body settles and becomes whole.
The Tiger Roars,
The Great Ox is nourished by the Valley Spirit,
Substances spark from flaming furnaces,
Essence roots in the Watery Flesh.
Yang appears like the sun at dawn.

Dragons and Tigers
Transformed within the Mysterious Pass -
Chanting and Purring.
Awakened,
Peaceful,
Free.”

- Michael P. Garofalo
Opening at the Mysterious Pass
Opening Hands (Kai Shou) and Closing Hands (He Shou) Qigong
Sun Lu Tang’s Style of Taijiquan

Mike Garofalo sometimes writes under the pen name of “The Green Wizard.”

Is Mike really a wizard? Come, come, my friends …. He, like like his lanky and legendary mentor, Grand Master Chang San Feng, likes to keep on walking, gardening, dancing at dawn, creating, and letting others bang his brass wizard’s hat.

Blog Search Terms: Wizard, Taoism, Poetry, Qigong.

silence
seeks the center
of every tree and rock,
that thing we hold closest-
the end of songs

from my palm
she takes the apple …
and it’s understood
our time is not
forever

- Michael McClintock, Letters in Time

Today I had the pleasure of reading the new book “Letters in Time: Sixty Short Poems” by Michael McClintock. It was published in 2005 by Hermitage West, P. O. Box 124, South Pasadena, CA 91031-0124; 75 pages, ISBN: 097702590x; HermitageWest@aol.com.  

Mike and I were colleagues and friends for many years when we worked as administrators for the County of Los Angeles Public Library. He introduced me to the literature of many haiku and tanka poets, and we shared many a lively conversation about people and places.  

His new volume of short poems include a number that will resonate with those whose spirit is ready to embrace romance and love. His concise art continues to be strong, intimate, sensitive, and clear to the core.  

Blog Search Terms: Tanka, Haiku, Michael McClintock, Poetry.