2. “A sesame bun.”
“It’s windy again this
morning”
Zazen
a meditative discipline;
the primary practice of
the Zen Buddhist
tradition.
3. Bashō on Enlightenment
“What is important is to keep our mind high in the world of true
understanding, and returning to the world of our daily
experience to seek therein the truth of beauty. No matter what
we may be doing at a given moment, we must not forget that it
has a bearing upon our everlasting self which is poetry”
4. “Operating superficially, the mind is random in its activity and
stale in its insights and images. With practice and experience,
however, it is recognized as the empty infinity of the universe
and of the self. The person who has become empty infinity and
has integrated this experience of emancipation into everyday life
finds expression in words and actions that are identifiable in
spirit and character. Here lies my conviction that Basho's haiku
are to be read from the fundamental standpoint of Zen. He
wrote of dusty roads, bird songs, and cool breezes; of ideas,
emotions, and recollections; of folklore, ancient poetry, and
Japanese history--playing with these forms and their words in a
way that resonates deepest experience.”
Bashō and Zen
- Robert Aitken
5. Zen & Haiku
• “Zen is poetry; poetry is Zen.” (R.H. Blyth)
• “Haiku is the expression of a temporary
enlightenment, in which we see into the life of things”
(R.H. Blyth)
• Basho deepened the Zen influence on haiku. His
poems…
• reflect the simplicity of his mediative life
• reflect the solitude of everyday kensho, “daily
enlightenment”
• cultivate particular moments of enlightenment
• invite us to merge with natural phenomena
• Allow to see the relationship between things
(including the mind and natural objects)
6. • Awareness of natural resonances; how
each part relates to other parts
• To be nonjudgmental; allow things to
reveal themselves without judgment
• The word “aware” originally meant
emotion initiated by engagement of
the senses
• Both haiku and haibun are forms that
evoke a sense of “aware”
Awareness
7. The old pond;
a frog jumps in—
the sound of the water.
Basho’s most famous haiku
8. Breaking the silence
Of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into water—
A deep resonance.
old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
water’s sound
The old pond;
a frog jumps in—
the sound of the water.
The Old Pond (Three Translations)
Furuike ya, kawazu tobikomu, mizu no oto.
Parody of the Poem
The old pond!
Bashō jumps in,
The sound of the water!
10. “to study the way is to study
the self; to study the self is to
forget the self; to forget the
self is to awaken into the ten
thousand things.”
Bashō’s description of “the way of poetry” could be
compared with Dogen’s famous zen teaching:
Muga (self-forgetting; the loss of awareness of oneself)
11. The Path Through Things
Immersion & Interconnection
“Follow nature, return to nature, be nature”
“Learn how to listen as things speak for themselves.”
“Learn of the pine from the pine; learn of the
bamboo from the bamboo.”
Bashō:
12. When we got off the boat at Senju, however, the
thought of the three thousand miles before me
suddenly filed my heart, and neither the houses of
the town nor the faces of my friends could be seen
by my tearful eyes except as a vision.
The passing spring,
Birds mourn,
Fishes weep
With tearful eyes
“
Merging of Self&Nature
14. Impermanence “All created things are impermanent.” - Buddha
When a country is defeated, there remain only mountains and
rivers, and on a ruined castle in spring only grasses thrive. I sat
down on my hat and wept bitterly till I almost forgot time.
A thicket of summer grass
is all that remains
of the dreams and ambitions
of ancient warriors.
“
15. As I was anxious to cross over to the province
of Echizen in the course of the day, I left the temple
without lingering, but when I reached the foot of the
long approach to the temple, a young priest came
running down the steps with a brush and ink and
asked me to leave a poem behind. As I happened to
notice some leaves of willow scattered in the garden, I
wrote impromptu,
I hope to have gathered
To repay your kindness
The willow leaves
Scattered in the garden.
and left the temple without even taking time to
refasten my straw sandals.
“
Gathering Moments of Time
16. Spontaneity,
Creativity,
Discipline
“There are two ways [to compose a poem]: one is entirely
natural, in which the poem is born from within itself; the
other way is to make it through the mastery of technique.”
Bashō
