Description
Koans and poetry tumble over each other. Old Zen masters used snatches of poetry as koans. Good poetry has an objective quality and is related to koanville in that way. It does not try to persuade or recruit.
Haiku for You
Links to Audio, Video, & Text on the topic
Koans and poetry tumble over each other. Old Zen masters used snatches of poetry as koans. Good poetry has an objective quality and is related to koanville in that way. It does not try to persuade or recruit.
Haiku is in service of the silence:
it expresses restraint and vastness at the same time. —John Tarrant
John Tarrant
the owl and the bell open the silence
they persuade the night
to be my friend
****
my father had an almond tree
I hear it in the moonlight
blooming
****
the moon obscured, the night dark, only a few frogs sing
only the wind and the intimate rain
remember us from before
****
AUDIO: The Silence of Haiku – John Tarrant, Sesshin
AUDIO: The East Mountain Walks on Water – John Tarrant
John shares haiku for blossoms, birds, waves, and hippos.
Zen Is Poetry
AUDIO: Zen Is Poetry – John Tarrant, Sunday Zen, Spring 2022
AUDIO: John Tarrant Reads His Poem, Healing Paths – Spring 2022
POEM: The Names & Shapes of Things – John Tarrant, Winter 2021
TEXT: Reading Poetry for Zen – John Tarrant, Fall 2017
For me, reading Basho before bedtime is something I do, like meditation, that consoles and shapes me. Reading Basho before bed is like meditation, not because it makes me calm, but because it leads me out onto a plain where a journey will begin.
—John Tarrant
Matsuo Basho
1644–1694: Basho is recognized as the greatest master of haiku.
awakened at midnight
by the sound of the water jar
cracking from the ice
****
dewdrop, let me cleanse
in your brief sweet waters
these dark hands of life
****
New Year’s Day
the monkey wears
a monkey mask
****
AUDIO: The Journey Itself Is Home – John Tarrant, Sunday Zen, Winter 2022
Basho lived in a banana hut. His haiku name, Basho, means Mr. Banana Plant.
ARTWORK: Bird Disappearing Among Clouds (w. Basho poem) – painting by Allison Atwill, 2008
Haiku is for freedom, and as a form, holds glimpses of the whole universe.
—John Tarrant
Kobayashi Issa
1763–1828: Issa, along with Basho, Buson and Shiki, is one of the “Great Four” haiku masters.
on a branch
floating downriver
a cricket, singing
****
even with insects
some can sing,
some can’t
****
Yosa Buson
1716–1784: Buson was a painter and one of the great haiku poets of the time.
since it turns out
I’m all by myself
I make friends with the harvest moon
****
Haiku poets often had many nicknames under which they published their poems, like pen names or dharma names. Poets gathered for haiku parties where they wrote as many haiku as they could before the incense burned out. They made up their wonderful names at such parties.
The poet Shiki had one hundred haiku pen names.
—John Tarrant
Masaoka Shiki
1867–1902: Shiki’s style favored realistic observation of nature.
taste of persimmon
as sharp as the bells
Horyu-ji
****
Santoka Taneda
1882–1940: Santoka is known for his free verse haiku,
a style which does not conform to the rules of traditional haiku.
here is the stone
drenched in rain
that points the way
****
AUDIO: Santoka’s Life – Tess Beasley, Fall Sesshin 2021
AUDIO: The Stone Drenched with Rain: Your Own Awakening – Allison Atwill, Fall Sesshin 2021
DHARMA THEME: TEXT: Ikkyu’s Well & The Miscellaneous Koans – John Tarrant, Fall Sesshin 2021
TEXT: Albert Saijo and the Long Journey – from John Tarrant’s Zenosaurus Course in Koans