Author Topic: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku  (Read 4293 times)

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« on: October 08, 2013, 03:33:23 PM »
Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
(Thirty-one Translations and One Commentary)
http://www.bopsecrets.org/


The original Japanese:


        Furu ike ya
        kawazu tobikomu
        mizu no oto

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2013, 03:34:15 PM »
     
        Old pond — frogs jumped in — sound of water.

        Translated by Lafcadio Hearn


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2013, 03:34:58 PM »

        A lonely pond in age-old stillness sleeps . . .
        Apart, unstirred by sound or motion . . . till
        Suddenly into it a lithe frog leaps.

        Translated by Curtis Hidden Page


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2013, 03:35:36 PM »

        Into the ancient pond
        A frog jumps
        Water’s sound!

        Translated by D.T. Suzuki


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2013, 03:36:12 PM »

        The old pond;
        A frog jumps in —
        The sound of the water.

        Translated by R.H. Blyth


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2013, 03:36:43 PM »

        An old pond —
        The sound
        Of a diving frog.

        Translated by Kenneth Rexroth


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2013, 03:37:15 PM »

        Pond, there, still and old!
        A frog has jumped from the shore.
        The splash can be heard.

        Translated by Eli Siegel


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2013, 03:37:48 PM »
        Old pond
             and a frog-jump-in
                  water-sound

        Translated by Harold G. Henderson


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2013, 03:39:17 PM »

        The old pond, yes, and
        A frog-jumping-in-the-
        Water’s noise!

        Translated by G.S. Fraser


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2013, 03:39:54 PM »

        The ancient pond
        A frog leaps in
        The sound of the water.

        Translated by Donald Keene


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2013, 03:40:28 PM »

        old pond
        frog leaping
        splash

        Translated by Cid Corman


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2013, 03:41:13 PM »

        The old pond,
        A frog jumps in:
        Plop!

        Translated by Alan Watts


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2013, 03:41:48 PM »

        Breaking the silence
        Of an ancient pond,
        A frog jumped into water —
        A deep resonance.

        Translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #13 on: October 08, 2013, 03:42:21 PM »

        The quiet pond
        A frog leaps in,
        The sound of the water.

        Translated by Edward Seidensticker

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #14 on: October 08, 2013, 03:42:58 PM »

        The old pond —
        A frog leaps in,
        And a splash.

        Translated by Makoto Ueda

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #15 on: October 08, 2013, 03:43:35 PM »

        old pond
        a frog in-leaping
        water-note

        Translated by Cana Maeda


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #16 on: October 08, 2013, 03:44:26 PM »

        The old pond
        A frog jumped in,
        Kerplunk!

        Translated by Allen Ginsberg


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #17 on: October 08, 2013, 03:45:15 PM »

        The old pond is still
        a frog leaps right into it
        splashing the water

        Translated by Earl Miner & Hiroko Odagiri


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #18 on: October 08, 2013, 03:45:53 PM »

        old pond . . .
        a frog leaps in
        water’s sound

        Translated by William J. Higginson


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #19 on: October 08, 2013, 03:46:25 PM »

        Old dark sleepy pool
        quick unexpected frog
        goes plop! Watersplash.

        Translated by Peter Beilenson


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #20 on: October 08, 2013, 03:47:05 PM »

        Listen! a frog
        Jumping into the stillness
        Of an ancient pond!

        Translated by Dorothy Britton


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #21 on: October 08, 2013, 03:47:47 PM »

        Old pond
        leap — splash
        a frog.

        Translated by Lucien Stryk


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #22 on: October 08, 2013, 03:48:23 PM »

        The old pond;
        A frog jumps in —
        The sound of the water.

        Translated by Robert Aitken

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #23 on: October 08, 2013, 03:49:03 PM »

        The old pond —
        a frog jumps in,
        sound of water.

        Translated by Robert Hass


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #24 on: October 08, 2013, 03:49:35 PM »

        At the ancient pond
        a frog plunges into
        the sound of water

        Translated by Sam Hamill


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #25 on: October 08, 2013, 03:50:07 PM »

        dark old pond
        :
        a frog plunks in

        Translated by Dick Bakken


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #26 on: October 08, 2013, 03:50:56 PM »

        Ancient silent pond
        Then a frog jumped right in
        Watersound: kerplunk

        Translated by John S. Major


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #27 on: October 08, 2013, 03:51:35 PM »

        old pond
        a frog leaps in —
        a moment after, silence

        Translated by Ross Figgins


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #28 on: October 08, 2013, 03:53:13 PM »

        ancient is the pond —
             suddenly a frog leaps — now!
                  the water echoes

        Translated by Tim Chilcott


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #29 on: October 08, 2013, 03:54:04 PM »

        pond
             frog
                  plop!

        Translated by James Kirkup


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #30 on: October 08, 2013, 03:54:36 PM »

        old pond
        a frog jumps into
        the sound of water

        Translated by Jane Reichhold


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #31 on: October 08, 2013, 03:55:41 PM »
                 
        There once was a curious frog
        Who sat by a pond on a log
        And, to see what resulted,
        In the pond catapulted
        With a water-noise heard round the bog.

        Translated by Alfred H. Marks


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #32 on: October 08, 2013, 03:56:38 PM »
   
Commentary by Robert Aitken
 

    The old pond;
    a frog jumps in —
    the sound of the water.


    Furu ike ya                Old pond!
    kawazu tobikomu      frog jumps in
    mizu no oto                water’s sound

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #33 on: October 08, 2013, 03:57:09 PM »

THE FORM

Ya is a cutting word that separates and yet joins the expressions before and after. It is punctuation that marks a transition — a particle of anticipation.

Though there is a pause in meaning at the end of the first segment, the next two segments have no pause between them. In the original, the words of the second and third parts build steadily to the final word oto. This has penetrating impact — “the frog jumps in water’s sound.” Haiku poets commonly play with their base of three parts, running the meaning past the end of one segment into the next, playing with their form, as all artists do variations on the form they are working with. Actually, the name “haiku” means “play verse.”

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #34 on: October 08, 2013, 03:58:12 PM »

COMMENT

This is probably the most famous poem in Japan, and after three hundred and more years of repetition, it has, understandably, become a little stale for Japanese people. Thus as English readers, we have something of an edge in any effort to see it freshly. The first line is simply “The old pond.” This sets the scene — a large, perhaps overgrown lily pond in a public garden somewhere. We may imagine that the edges are mossy, and probably a little broken down. With the frog as our clue, we guess that it is twilight in late spring.

This setting of time and place needs to be established, but there is more. “Old” is a cue word of another sort. For a poet such as Bashô, an evening beside a mossy pond evoked the ancient. Bashô presents his own mind as this timeless, endless pond, serene and potent — a condition familiar to mature Zen students.

In one of his first talks in Hawai’i, Yamada Kôun Rôshi said: “When your consciousness has become ripe in true zazen — pure like clear water, like a serene mountain lake, not moved by any wind — then anything may serve as a medium for realization.”

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #35 on: October 08, 2013, 03:58:45 PM »
D.T. Suzuki used to say that the condition of the Buddha’s mind while he was sitting under the Bodhi tree was that of sagara mudra samadhi (ocean-seal absorption). In this instance, mudra is translated as “seal” as in “notary seal.” We seal our zazen with our zazen mudra, left hand over the right, thumbs touching. Our minds are sealed with the serenity and depth of the great ocean in true zazen.

There is more, I think. Persistent inquiry casts that profound serenity. Tradition tells us that the Buddha was preoccupied with questions about suffering. The story of Zen is the story of men and women who were open to agonizing doubts about ultimate purpose and meaning. The entire teaching of Zen is framed by questions.

Profound inquiry placed the Buddha under the Bodhi tree, and his exacting focus brought him to the serene inner setting where the simple incident of noticing the morning star could suddenly disclose the ultimate Way. As Yamada Rôshi has said, any stimulus would do — a sudden breeze with the dawn, the first twittering of birds, the appearance of the sun itself. It just happened to be a star in the Buddha’s case.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #36 on: October 08, 2013, 03:59:22 PM »
In Bashô’s haiku, a frog appears. To Japanese of sensitivity, frogs are dear little creatures, and Westerners may at least appreciate this animal’s energy and immediacy. Plop!

“Plop” is onomatopoeic, as is oto in this instance. Onomatopoeia is the presentation of an action by its sound, or at least that is its definition in literary criticism. The poet may prefer to say that he became intimate with that sound. Thus the parody by Gibon Sengai is very instructive:

    The old pond!
    Bashô jumps in,
    The sound of the water!

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #37 on: October 08, 2013, 04:00:13 PM »
Hsiang-yen Chih-hsien became profoundly attuned to a sound while cleaning the grave of the Imperial Tutor, Nan-yang Hui-chung. His broom caught a little stone that sailed through the air and hit a stalk of bamboo. Tock! He had been working on the kôan “My original face before my parents were born,” and with that sound his body and mind fell away completely. There was only that tock. Of course, Hsiang-yen was ready for this experience. He was deep in the samadhi of sweeping leaves and twigs from the grave of an old master, just as Bashô is lost in the samadhi of an old pond, and just as the Buddha was deep in the samadhi of the great ocean.

Samadhi means “absorption,” but fundamentally it is unity with the whole universe. When you devote yourself to what you are doing, moment by moment — to your kôan when on your cushion in zazen, to your work, study, conversation, or whatever in daily life — that is samadhi. Do not suppose that samadhi is exclusively Zen Buddhist. Everything and everybody are in samadhi, even bugs, even people in mental hospitals.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #38 on: October 08, 2013, 04:00:48 PM »
Absorption is not the final step in the way of the Buddha. Hsiang-yen changed with that tock. When he heard that tiny sound, he began a new life. He found himself at last, and could then greet his master confidently and lay a career of teaching whose effect is still felt today. After this experience, he wrote:

    One stroke has made me forget all my previous knowledge.
    No artificial discipline is at all needed;
    In every movement I uphold the ancient way
    And never fall into the rut of mere quietism;
    Wherever I walk no traces are left,
    And my senses are not fettered by rules of conduct;
    Everywhere those who have attained to the truth
    All declare this to be of highest order.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

hubag bohol

  • AMBASSADOR
  • THE SOURCE
  • *****
  • Posts: 89964
  • "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
    • View Profile
Re: Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
« Reply #39 on: October 08, 2013, 04:01:21 PM »
The Buddha changed with noticing the morning star — “Now when I view all beings everywhere,” he said, “I see that each of them possesses the wisdom and virtue of the Buddha . . .” — and after a week or so he rose from beneath the tree and began his lifetime of pilgrimage and teaching. Similarly, Bashô changed with that plop. The some 650 haiku that he wrote during his remaining eight years point precisely within his narrow medium to metaphors of nature and culture as personal experience. A before-and-after comparison may be illustrative of this change. For example, let us examine his much-admired “Crow on a Withered Branch.”

    On a withered branch
    a crow is perched:
    an autumn evening.

    Kare eda ni                    Withered branch on
    karasu no tomari keri    crow’s perched
    aki no kure                     autumn’s evening

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=76093.0
...than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Book your travel tickets anywhere in the world, go to www.12go.co

unionbank online loan application low interest, credit card, easy and fast approval

Tags: