Looking at the moon deepens your silence

Another haiku runs,

One full moon;
stars numberless;
the sky dark green

These are not ordinary poetries, these are expressions of deep meditation. Night, and particularly moonlit nights, have been found to be very supportive to meditation. Now even science suspects that the moon has a certain effect on the mind; because most of the people who go mad, go mad on a full moon night, hence the word 'lunatic'. It comes from luna, the moon.

Another word is 'moonstruck' .... More people commit suicide on the full moon than at any other time, and more people have become enlightened on the full moon than at any other time. Science has its own reasons .... The moon is really a part of the earth. Some four billion years ago, a great chunk of the earth separated from the earth. All our great oceans are because of that chunk; deep valleys were left for rain to fill and they became the oceans. The moon has one sixth the gravitation of the earth, because it is one sixth the size. That means that gazing at the moon, you slowly, slowly become more light, the gravitation is less on your being. That is the scientist's explanation. And you can see the effect on the seas, because they are holding the place of the moon ... where the moon used to be once.

That's why on the full moon there are great tides. In the human body there is eighty percent water, ocean water with the same chemicals. Just as tides arise in the ocean, something arises in the human being. If he is on the right track perhaps he may become enlightened. And if he is on the wrong track he can commit suicide or commit a murder or go mad ... there are thousands of ways. But there is only one way that reaches to your ultimate sensitivity, the way of meditation, the way of closing all outgoing doors and being in.

And once in a while these Zen meditators have opened their eyes and they have seen the moon or a sunset or a lotus, and out of their meditation a certain expression has arisen.

Only through meditation will you be able to understand it -- it is not poetry, it is not written with the mind, it is a heartfelt feeling.

One full moon;
stars numberless;
the sky dark green
If you are in deep meditation, and you see this dark sky with so many stars and one single moon, immediately your silence will become immensely deeper.

These haikus are not meaningful for those who have not experienced anything of meditation.