re:Virals 501

Welcome to re:Virals, The Haiku Foundation’s weekly commentary feature on some of your favorites among the best contemporary haiku and senryu written in English, hosted by Keith Evetts (managing editor) and Melissa Dennison.  In the seat today is Melissa.  This week’s poem, chosen by Sudha Devi Nayak was:

   
flooded river
deep in meditation
a stone Buddha
—Mirela Brailean
 The Haiku Foundation Haiku Dialogue 2 April 2025

Introducing this poem, Sudha writes:

A river in spate, and in the midst of swirling waters, the chaos and upheaval, the Buddha sits in stoic meditation unconscious of everything. The stone Buddha washed by the waters, unaffected and unaware of the mayhem, is a symbol of stability in the turbulence. The haiku is a metaphor for life forever in flux. The pain and grief, the loss and betrayal drowning us in thoughts and fears, immobilising and unsettling us, are to be confronted with a sense of equanimity, unintimidated.  In the meditative calm of the Buddha there is absolute peace: “a peace that passeth all understanding.” A peace that is to be felt, not understood; an armour “against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” The vision we can conjure of the Buddha in total composure and perfect bliss, waiting for that moment of enlightenment that can carry humanity through the myriad ordeals of life, is an inspiration for that meditative calm we can aspire to. Buddha says the mere fact of human existence entails suffering, the very reason we cannot deny humanity to others.

Opening Comment (Melissa):

When I first read this poem I recalled in my mind an image of a stone buddha immersed in a river, something I must have seen on the tv news. After a bit of research I came across an article discussing the emergence of 600 year old Buddha statues in the Yangtze river as water levels fell due to drought. This led me to consider the concept of flow: particularly time, and the centuries of time that could have passed since these Buddha statues had been carved. How long could these Buddhas have been submerged? Did anyone remember or were these lost to memory?

Mirela’s haiku reminds me of how thoughts can flow too – in the stream of consciousness, and this seems to be what this poem is alluding to. The flooded river is as a metaphor for an overloaded mind, full of racing thoughts. It needs to slow down, and does so through meditation. Confession time – I have attempted this, dipping my toe in the waters of mindfulness but to be honest I need more practice as my mind soon begins to meander away.

Calming the mind then is not easy, particularly when entangled in the flux and flow of life events. However, meditation can help in nurturing the beginner’s mind, a concept from Zen Buddhism: Shoshin that emphasises openness, curiosity, creativity and ultimately understanding. Crucially, achieving this involves a process of unlearning, eschewing our everyday habits, assumptions and presuppositions about life. This is hard to do, as we tend to fall into familiar ways reflexively, we react without thinking. By persevering with this process of unlearning, over time the river of our mind can develop new channels and understandings. For further reading and an interesting audiobook discussing Zen and the beginner’s mind on youtube see the links in footnotes below.

I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this article this week as their comments have helped enrich my thoughts and enable them to flow in a new direction.

Alan Harvey:

There is a stillness to this haiku, flooded river / deep in meditation / a stone Buddha by Mirela Brailean. When the land is flooded, pictures of flooded fields are still because the water has nowhere to go. And the Buddha is completely still due to its stone composition. The inclusion of the stone Buddha has me assuming this is grounded in Buddhist thought. The pivot point is with L2, deep in meditation, which can be paired with flooded river / deep in meditation, possibly a little poetic but fits with the flooded fields image and deep in meditation / a stone Buddha. Stone wouldn’t be affected by the waters. L2: /deep in meditation / suggests an awareness where meditation is used for mindfulness, an active open attention to the present, observing thoughts and feelings without judgement and stilling the mind. Disasters take place because basic elements are in a constant state of flux and need to find balance. There is no one to blame, and nothing to blame.

Buddhist meditation teaches a deep awareness and mindfulness and this haiku reflects the stillness that comes from meditation. Thank you Mirela Brailean for this gentle haiku.

Vijayaraghavan Raji:

I love this haiku for its rich hidden insights. There could be more than one interpretation to this haiku which uses brevity and concrete images to encourage us to delve deeper into it. The flooded river represents a full life, showing also appreciation for it, it would seem.

A meditative state in L2 brings with it an awareness of the impermanence and transient nature of things in life so as not to be unduly touched or affected by it. The adjective ‘deep’ adds that extra edge of trying to reach the state of detachment amidst attractions and success which is not that easily achieved. Buddha himself represents a meditative state and adding ‘stone’ in L3 reasserts the fact of an unattached state of being to the ephemeral nature of life around. A stone is not easily moved or penetrated by the forces around it, showing a detached state of being one could achieve even through involvement, forced or otherwise, as a result of deep meditation, contemplation and follow through. When we try to interpret a haiku on this site, it is stimulating to observe the inherent philosophical aspects, bringing our own realisation to the fore.

Sitarama Seshu Maringanti:

The choice of the haiku of Mirela Brailean by Mrs Sudha Devi Nayak is contextually a relevant allegory. It is as if she is asking us to savour and consider another extension to the previous haiku by Kelly Shaw – that of the need to look beyond the apparent into the heart of things. This ability to look beyond the apparent without contempt or indifference and to appreciate its nuances requires the soul of a meditator. In other words, one should be able to develop a sense of non-attachment to worldly things. The haiku gives the picture of a great flood in the swirling waters of which is seen the Buddha’s stone sculpture – a picture of detachment from or non-attachment unaffected by the worldly concerns.  A quintessential message the Buddha gave to humanity. The mental picture of the stone Buddha presents us with a strong image of one that remains unfazed by the strong currents of life’s vicissitudes. To sum up, the choice of Mirela Brailean’s haiku by Mrs Sudha is very appropriate.

Nathan Sidney:

There’s a pun here, but not out of place. Deep in meditation and deep in the flooded river rhyme nicely, the flooded river being of course the depths of samsara. A nice juxtaposition too, between the stone of the Buddha and the flow of water. Flooded river could mean to be overwhelmed, as we all are at some point. The self in Buddhism is often equated to an eddy in a stream, but here the Buddha remains steadfast, submerged, sunken, unmoving. What do you have in your life that is so steady? The river, flooded now, could soon be parched and we assume our Buddha will remain deep in meditation, even when high and dry. What a striking sight, to look into the river’s depths and see a Buddha sitting there, a moment of enlightenment for sure. Our minds themselves a river, flowing on to who knows where. Do you have a stone Buddha by your stream?

Marion Clarke:

The gradual reveal over three lines of a scene depicting a river that has broken its banks, to a stone Buddha in a meditative state amidst the floodwater, struck me as an environmental poem. Throughout 2024 to the present, many countries in Europe have suffered from heavier rainfall than usual, resulting in devastating flooding and landslides that have caused mayhem and death. Then I thought of the doctrine of karma, how our intentional actions can have consequences that affect both the present and future. Finally, I couldn’t decide whether that image of Buddha sitting in deep meditation while surrounded by the floodwater was an image that exuded calm in the belief that everything will eventually work itself out in this turbulent world, or despair at our treatment of the planet. In any case, Mirela’s poem certainly has certainly caused ripples of contemplation for this reader.

Heather Stark:

The flooded river in the first line, as soon as the next two lines are read, starts to resonate with and gather meaning from the Buddhist term “stream entry” – which is the transformation in consciousness that marks the first stage of enlightenment, according to the Pali canon.

So we are being told not just about a stream being entered – but a flooded river. Surely the impact must be strong, and deep, and powerful.

As deep and strong and powerful as the silent meditation of a stone Buddha whose pure form silently expresses peace and love while fully in the flow of the flood.

Lakshman Bulusu:

This haiku has the eloquence of spirituality mingled with the abundance of a “flooded” state of existence – vis-a-vis meditation. The stone Buddha seems to be engrossed in meditation so deep that no word is deeper. The flood of the river can be compared to a heightened state of the Buddha.

Looking from any other angle seems to me too earthly taking into account the flooded river, the waters, and the stone.

The elements and the experience of the bliss of solitude become characteristics of the Buddha – the encapsulation of the infinite within the finite as is typical in haiku.

Swagata Soumyanarayan – the importance of unlearning:

I like the strong, and clear images of the stone Buddha (and imagine it) near the flooded river.

A river is an amalgamation of various things and can be likened to a vast mind. The river that’s overflowing implies a mind that’s already full and needs to unlearn. Thus, the Buddha reflects on how to empty the mind in order to receive knowledge/wisdom, and in that unlearning, becoming much more.

Mirela Brailean:

I am deeply honored that my poem has been chosen by last week’s winning commentator Sudha Devi Nayak for the upcoming week’s reader consideration and commentaries at re:Virals.

Over the years, I noticed that the best haikus I wrote were those in one breath. As soon as I saw the theme ‘river’, this image appeared before my eyes. I played around with juxtaposition and the rich meanings that the image in my mind was displaying. During meditation, you experience a sort of breakaway from immediate reality, or at least, that’s how it seems from the outside. On the other hand, the mind and body are permeated by other dimensions and experiences. It’s a full void, somehow.

Obviously, I’ve never actually seen a stone Buddha, sunken. But I realized almost instantly, the connection between flow and immersion, both of them with a double meaning: the flow of thought, the deepening in meditation, and the lack of any barriers. A quiet mind is like a river. Deep meditation helps us to deepen our own self. We remain connected to the world without being influenced by it.

Thanks to all who sent commentaries. As the contributor of the commentary reckoned best this week, Swagata Soumyanarayan has chosen next week’s poem, which you’ll find below. We invite you to write a commentary to it. It may be short, or of moderate length, academic, your personal response, spontaneous, or idiosyncratic.  As long as it focuses on the verse presented, and with respect for the poet, all genuine reader reaction, criticism, and pertinent discussion is of value.   Out-takes are kept in the THF Archives.  Best of all, the chosen commentary’s author gets to pick the next poem.

Anyone can participate. Simply use the re:Virals commentary form below to enter your commentary on the new week’s poem (“Your text”) by the following Tuesday midnight, Eastern US Time Zone, and then press Submit to send your entry. The Submit button will not be available until Name, Email, and Place of Residence fields are filled in. We look forward to seeing your commentary and finding out about your favourite poems.

Poem for commentary:

     
hollow tree—
I try to figure out the depth
of solitude
— C.X.Turner
  Cold Moon Journal, December 22, 2022

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Footnote:

Bio:  Mirela writes:
“I’m a biologist in the preservation of mobile cultural heritage. I love people, nature, and animals.

I write haiku out of passion for this minimalist genre. I discovered it by chance, about seven years ago. Since then I have won numerous competitions at home and abroad. From 2020 until now, I have been included in the top 100 most active haiku writers in Europe. In my opinion, having experience writing poetry is the most significant thing. I have developed many friendships with individuals around the globe who share my enthusiasm for haiku.

Between 2019 and 2022, I have already written and published three haiku books, including two bilingual and trilingual books (Romanian, English, and Romanian, English, Japanese).”

—–

Relevant links on Zen:

https://zenhabits.net/beginner/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Mind,_Beginner%27s_Mind