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Haiku - Only for Sensitive Hearts



Posted: Tuesday, March 23, 2010

by e
Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation


Along this road
Goes no one,
This autumn eve.
           - Matsuo Basho

Haiku is a little poem. More than that, however, it is a cutting edge of a truth that sets a mood, and when comprehended deeply offers one of those rare and precious Aha! moments in our lives.

If you want to make up your own haiku and test your insight, just follow the general rules: three lines and a total of seventeen syllables. The first line has five syllables, the second line, seven, and the third line five again.

The poem should contain one reference to a season or nature to which the poem refers, directly or indirectly, and one word or punctuation that "cuts" the train of thought.

The summer grasses-
Of the brave soldiers' dreams
The aftermath.
        - Matsuo Basho

 Another year is gone;
and I still wear
straw hat and straw sandal.
                    - Matsuo Basho

Turbulent the sea-
across to Sado stretches
the Milky Way
                 - Matsuo Basho

Temple bells die out.
The fragrant blossoms remain.
A perfect evening!
        - Matsuo Basho

A man, just one -
also a fly, just one -
in the huge drawing room.
        - Kobayashi Issa

My grumbling wife -
if only she were here!
This moon tonight...
        - Kobayashi Issa

 A lovely thing to see:
 through the paper window's hole,
 the Galaxy.
        - Kobayashi Issa

I kill an ant
and realize my three children
have been watching.
        - Shuson Kato

 First autumn morning:
 the mirror I stare into
 shows my father's face.
         - Kijo Murakami

 The moment two bubbles
 are united, they both vanish.
 A lotus blooms.
        - Kijo Murakami
E. Raymond Rock (anagarika eddie) is a meditation teacher at DhammaRocksprings Theravada Buddhist Meditation Retreat Center: http://www.dhammarocksprings.org and author of “A Year to Enlightenment: http://www.amazon.com/Year-Enlightenment-Steps-Enriching-Living/dp/1564148912

He lived at Wat Pah Nanachat under Ajahn Chah as a Buddhist monk (novice) and at Wat Pah Baan Taad under Ajahn Maha Boowa and Wat Pah Daan Wi Weg under Ajahn Tui as a fully ordained Buddhist monk (bhikkhu). He was a postulant at Shasta Abbey, a Zen Buddhist monastery in northern California under Roshi Kennett; and a Theravada Buddhist anagarika at both Amaravati Monastery in the UK and Bodhinyanarama Monastery in New Zealand, both under Ajahn Sumedho. The author has meditated with the Korean Master Sueng Sahn Sunim; with Bhante Gunaratana at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia; and with the Tibetan Master Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado. He has practiced at the Insight Meditation Society and the Zen Center in San Francisco.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)
» left by David Tanguay
 2 years 59 days ago.
189 fans.
I use to write haiku poems when I wrote for "poem hunter." But I haven't written any for sometime now. You do a good job here e.
» left by e 2 years 59 days ago.
133 fans.
Thanks David. I'd like to see some of your haikus someday.
 
Best.....e
» left by Nenita Wells
 1 year 344 days ago.
298 fans.
So precise and so meaningful. Thank you, E for sharing this beautiful piece. I enjoyed your article a lot.
All the best to you,
Nenita
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