Now a cuckoo's song
carries the haiku master
right out of this world
—Matsuo Basho, 17th century, trans. by Sam Hamill
Who says my poems are poems?
They aren't poems at all.
Only when you understand my poems aren't poems
can we talk poetry.
—Ryokan, 18th century, trans. by Sam Hamill
This is a bracing tonic, that if genuinely absorbed by contemporary poets writing in English could completely change their goals and methods. The poetry of Zen is profoundly anti-egotistical and anti-rhetorical while having a deep understanding of the foibles of human psychology; it de-emphasizes the heroic ego and seeks "no-mind" in the sense that the mind's ceaseless self-regard might become still. It seeks to point at the moon, rather than talking about pointing at the moon.
carries the haiku master
right out of this world
—Matsuo Basho, 17th century, trans. by Sam Hamill
Who says my poems are poems?
They aren't poems at all.
Only when you understand my poems aren't poems
can we talk poetry.
—Ryokan, 18th century, trans. by Sam Hamill
This is a bracing tonic, that if genuinely absorbed by contemporary poets writing in English could completely change their goals and methods. The poetry of Zen is profoundly anti-egotistical and anti-rhetorical while having a deep understanding of the foibles of human psychology; it de-emphasizes the heroic ego and seeks "no-mind" in the sense that the mind's ceaseless self-regard might become still. It seeks to point at the moon, rather than talking about pointing at the moon.
Amen, brother.
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