What is it about haiku and meditation that both impart a like taste,
So strangely satisfying, so difficult to describe?
Inspired by this question, we first gathered in 1996, a fellowship of haiku poets who sought to express the great silence in words. Since then we’ve met annually for retreats, and now invite others to join us in what we do, which is:
- to encourage each other to write and read those haiku which have a resonance beyond the descriptive, an existential aftertaste.
- to explore the contemplative dimension of haiku through personal practice, periodic workshops, group retreats and gatherings.
- to offer a liberative vision of haiku as an everyday spirituality beyond sectarian divides.
It could all be too pious, couldn’t it? – which is where ‘redthread’ comes in, the ancient Japanese term for the troublesome passions. They are part of us, and of our poetry. Even the enlightened, as Zen Master Songyan said, cannot, “sever the redthread.” He goes further, and challenges us to ask ourselves why we can’t.
This website is a free space for uncovering haiku with vitality, haiku which connect us with universals through the perfect particular checks and balances of the internet. We welcome you to it in the spirit of friendship. There are:-
- archives of our Retreat Reports
- an archive of Haiku Spirit journals
- talks given at our gatherings in the mountains
- a Forum section for workshopping new draft poems and for debate
- a haibun section of experimental writing in prose-and-poetry combinations
- pages for featured writers
And we hope you will contribute letters and articles to the debate we have initiated on haiku practice as an inner-path spirituality. Please send them to the editor, George Marsh, or post them directly to the Forum, which is the active part of the site for new poems and new voices. Check it out.
We hope you enjoy the site (Have you answered the question yet? Why can’t the clear-eyed sever the redthread?).
Why SOPA/PIPA Will kill the Internet the Way We Know It
The SOPA/ PIPA which the US Congress are currently considering aims to stop online piracy, but in the attempt will kill the internet as you know it. Both bills can ruin the internet and threatens free speech in the state. These bills will also serve as job killers. Many innovation, industry and commerce involve the use of internet for their transactions. If these bills are passed, the growth of these industries will become impossible to continue.
If you are not much familiar with these bills, SOPA/PIPA will provide content producers such as music studios, movie making studios, magazines, newspapers and others, the authority to take down any site if they believe that the website is pirating the works produced by them. For an instance, YouTube depends on user-generated contents. If a user posts for an instance some movie clips, YouTube can be in infringement of SOPA. In addition, there is the chance of YouTube being taken down without any due process.
In SOPA, the site is accountable for all user-generated contents which could be considered as a copyright infringement. The bigger setback is that, theoretically, a competing site could be taken down by another company through alleging copyright infringement plus the charged site would only have small option. Even bigger problem is that if someone does not like the website’s political leanings, the site is possible of being taken down. This is the reason why these bills are killers of free speech.
President Obama declared that he doesn’t support the legislation in its current form. Rep. Lamar Smith, who is the one behind SOPA, stated that he will eliminate the DNS blocking language included in the bill. Although some are stating that SOPA is efficiently dead, it’s not yet time to start celebrating.
While the circumstances may not be favoring on the side of SOPA, it is not yet dead and may be revived anytime. Further, PIPA, the bill’s Senate version, is still well and alive. This is the reason why the public should continue their tough campaign against SOPA/PIPA to continue their freedom of speech and the services of the internet.
When a person makes the decision to get into the car retailing business whether its selling new or used cars and is starting yo offer these services for the first time, it’s likely that the first company they will be looking for is a auto transport broker to ship the cars to the customers or other destination, this should be talked about at length since finding the brokers are not always something done form one minute to the next. There are some car dealers out there who invest in car shipping equipment and drivers for local transports so they don't rely on others. While some veteran auto dealers will consider this as a valid investment others strongly disagree since its extra headache and manpower which can be done without. The entire idea has various pros and cons like using it against capital gains taxes and the potential tax credits for additional hires and state incentives. | 
