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Tag Archives: spirituality
THE IMPORTANCE OF HERON LEGS: GRASPING THE ESSENCE OF AN EVENT
Buson wrote a pleasant summer hokku: An evening breeze; The water laps against The heron’s legs. R. H. Blyth made a very pertinent comment on this verse, a remark precisely in keeping the principles of modern hokku: “Buson’s intuitions are … Continue reading
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Tagged Buson, heron, hokku, nature, objectivity, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spirituality, summer, writing
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AUTUMN ENDING — WINTER BEGINNING
Autumn ends; Even the crows Are silent. David
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Tagged crows, early winter, hokku, late autumn, nature, poetry, seasons, spirituality, writing
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THE NARROW PATH: A HOKKU BY BUSON
As a writer of hokku, Buson had his flaws. He was sometimes too consciously literary, at others too obviously painterly (he was, after all, an artist). That is why numbers of his verses fail to quite make it as good … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, autumn leaves, Buson, colored leaves, fallen leaves, hokku, nature, poetry, seasons, spirituality, writing, Yosa Buson
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RAIN BEATS ON RAIN
Gyōdai wrote one of the simplest and best hokku, which in my region would be an autumn verse: Ochiba ochikasanarite ame ame wo utsu Falling-leaves fall-pile up rain rain wo beats Leaves fall And pile up; Rain beats on rain. … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, Gyôdai, hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, Reginald Horace Blyth, seasons, spirituality, writing
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THE SOUND OF WATER
Near and far – The sound of water, The falling leaves. (Variation on an old hokku by Bashō)
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Tagged autumn, Bashô, falling leaves, hokku, nature, poetry, spirituality, writing
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SUBTLE STATES OF MIND: THE REASON FOR HOKKU
As all regular readers here know, a hokku is a sensory event set in the context of a particular season. That is basic knowledge. But did you ever ask yourself why? What, after all, is the point of recording sensory, … Continue reading
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Tagged AUTUMN WILLOWS, Ch'an, Henry David Thoreau, hokku, nature, poetry, Ryūshi, seasons, spirituality, Transcendentalism, Wind in the Willows, writing, zen
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AUTUMN WILLOWS
Seibi has an interesting hokku that reminds one of Thoreau’s close observation of Nature: The morning sun; Already it penetrates The autumn willows. This is another of those verses in which meaning requires knowing the principles of hokku. We might … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, hokku, poetry, seasons, Seibi, spirituality, willows, writing
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OTHER PEOPLE’S AUTUMN
I often say here that Japanese hokku sometimes tends to a vagueness not found in English-language hokku. Some verses can be so unclear as to leave their meaning perpetually in doubt. Those are just bad hokku, in spite of the … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, fall, hokku, poetry, seasons, smoke, spirituality, Thoreau, vagueness, writing
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ENTERING AUTUMN
Here is a timely repeat of an earlier posting: Summer is ending, autumn is beginning. I have already mentioned the transitional verse by Kyoroku that leads us into the season: August; First on the ears of millet – The autumn … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, Bashô, Buson, fall, hokku, impermanence, Issa, Kyoroku, millet, morning glories, nature, poetry, spirituality, transience, writing
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BIG ANT, BIG HEAT: INTERNAL REFLECTION IN HOKKU
If one does not have an understanding of the basic principles of hokku, it is often difficult to appreciate a verse because one simply does not “get” it. This was a major factor in the rise of modern haiku in … Continue reading
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Tagged haiku, heat, hokku, internal reflection, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, seasons, Shirô, spirituality, summer, writing
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ABSENCE AND PRESENCE AND SUMMER HEAT
The windbell silent; The heat Of the clock. This summer hokku by Yayū is somewhat unusual, first because it includes a clock. We already know that “modern technology” is not a part of hokku, and if we allow ourselves to … Continue reading
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Tagged absence, clock, heat, hokku, poetry, presence, principles of hokku, seasons, spirituality, summer, summer hokku, windbell, writing, Yayu
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BEYOND BELIEF
The problem with religion — any religion — is not in whatever spirituality, if any, it might contain; the problem is dogma. Look for the root of any religious controversy, or of religious controversy that has escalated into violence, and … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, belief, blasphemy laws, creationism, dogma, evolution, freedom of speech, Quakers, religion, Society of Friends, spirituality
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A LEAKY ROOF
A pleasant spring hokku by Bashō: Spring rain; A roof leak trickles Down the wasps’ nest. This reminds me of Blyth’s remark that to write hokku one should live in a house which either has a leaky roof or one with … Continue reading
Posted in Bashô
Tagged Bashô, hokku, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spirituality, spring, spring hokku, writing
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DAY DARKENS; FORGETTING THE WORDS
Gyōdai wrote: Day darkens; Again the snow Begins to fall. One familiar with conventional Western poetry is likely to ask, “What does it mean?” That is a question inappropriate for hokku. Archibald MacLeish once wrote in his Ars Poetica (“The … Continue reading
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Tagged hokku, poetry, snow, spirituality, T'ao Ch'ien, winter, winter hokku, writing
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THE SOUND OF BRANCHES; the Simplicity of Hokku
There is a hokku by Buson, translated thus by R. H. Blyth: Snow-break also Can be heard, This dark night. I think many reading the verse without his explanation would fail to understand it, and that is always a problem. … Continue reading
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Tagged breaking branches, Buson, snow, spirituality, winter, winter hokku, writing
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SEEN FROM THE HOKKU MIND
I hope that readers here have begun to realize from my postings that the hokku is quite different from the modern haiku. In general, a modern haiku is just a verse of some kind written in three lines. It might … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, hokku, internal reflection, Modern Haiku, poetry, seasons, spirituality, wind, windbell, writing
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MORE ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HOKKU — A REVIEW
A reader has asked me to clarify a few points in this list (borrowed from R. H. Blyth) of the characteristics of hokku. Though he asked about only three, perhaps it might be helpful to give some explanation of all, … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, hokku, hokku characteristics, nature, poetry, seasons, spirituality, writing
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WIDENING COMMUNICATION: INTERLANGUAGES
As regular readers here know, I watch the site statistics. Because of that, I have long been concerned that many people who do not have English as their first language are obviously trying to read this site, but with varying … Continue reading
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Tagged English language, Foreign language, hokku, Interlingua, Language, Natural language, nature, poetry, Romance languages, Slavic languages, spirituality, writing
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MORE ON USING “CHINESE” TECHNIQUE IN ENGLISH POETRY
In looking over past statistics for this site, I noticed that one of the most frequented postings was on writing “Chinese poetry” in English. Of course what is meant by that is poetry written in English, but using the form … Continue reading
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Tagged Arthur Waley, autumn, Chinese poetry, nature, Poems, spirituality, T'ao Ch'ien, Tao Qian, winter, writing
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THERE IS HOKKU AND THERE IS HOKKU
From time to time I like to explain, so there will be no confusion, just what it is that I teach as hokku. It is not precisely the same as old Japanese hokku. Most people would, in fact, feel old … Continue reading
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Tagged haikai, haiku, hokku, nature, poetry, seasons, spirituality, writing, zen
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ONE BIG, LAZY CAT IS ALL OF SUMMER
Issa wrote this summer hokku: The big cat – Flopped down on the fan Asleep. It is rather typical Issa, with his connection to animals and his kind of humor. The point of the verse is that it is summer, … Continue reading
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Tagged cat, coolness, fan, haikai, heat, hokku, Issa, poetry, spirituality, summer, writing, zen
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LIFELONG STUDENTS
The practice of hokku is a lifelong process of learning. This is true whether one is a student or teacher, because even the teacher is also a lifelong student. Today I got a valuable insight into one reason why some … Continue reading
BLOWING LEAVES
A hokku appropriate to late autumn, by the woman Sono-jo: A dog barking At the sound of the leaves; The windstorm. It is an odd fact in hokku that the simplest are often the best, and this is a very … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, dog, haikai, haiku, hokku, hokku lessons, leaves, nature, poetry, seasons, spirituality, transience, wind, writing, zen
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ENTERPRISES THAT REQUIRE NEW CLOTHES
The almost frantic desire of contemporary society to drop whatever is perceived as no longer fashionable in favor of whatever is new holds no attraction for writers of hokku, who see such chronic dissatisfaction as just another manifestation of the … Continue reading
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Tagged Blowing Zen, haikai, haiku, Henry David Thoreau, hokku, nature, poetry, seasons, selflessness, shakuhachi, spirituality, writing, zen
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AUTUMN COMINGS AND GOINGS
Gyōdai wrote: Aki no yama tokorodokoro ni kemuri tatsu Autumn’s mountains here-there at smoke rises The autumn hills; Here and there Smoke rises. It is a pleasant verse, and reminds one of Appalachia, of seeing smoke … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, Buson, Gyôdai, haikai, haiku, harmony, hokku, nature, poetry, seasons, Shôhaku, spirituality, transience, writing, zen
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SPILLING THE MOON
In the previous posting I mentioned that many of Shiki’s “haiku” would still be classifiable as hokku, though they often tend to be illustrations. But even among his illustrations some are better, some worse. Here is one of his verses: … Continue reading
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Tagged autumn, haikai, haiku, hokku, moon, poetry, seasons, spirituality, writing, zen
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WHAT DID SHIKI REALLY DO?
In previous postings I have written that the haiku did not exist until near the end of the 19th century, when it was “created” by a Japanese failed novelist, the journalist generally known today as Masaoka Shiki, or simply Shiki. … Continue reading
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Tagged haikai, haiku, hokku, seasons, Shiki, spirituality, writing, zen
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WHY I LINK HOKKU AND MEDITATIVE PRACTICE
Readers of the previous posting about Zen and hokku, on reading my emphasis on some kind of meditative spiritual practice, may justifiably think, “Well, hokku may have an historical connection with Zen aesthetics, but why does this fellow recommend some … Continue reading
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Tagged Bashô, haikai, hokku, poetry, spirituality, writing, zen
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THE SOLE HEIR OF THE WHOLE WORLD
Sometimes on this site I will seem to go far afield, but generally there is a thread leading in some way back to hokku or the spirit of hokku. Johann Peter Hebel, who wrote in Swiss-German, has a very remarkable … Continue reading
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Tagged haikai, hokku, Johann Peter Hebel, Kikaku, nature, poetry, spirituality, summer, Thomas Traherne, William Blake
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A MIRROR REFLECTING
I have talked about the simplicity of hokku, and of its poverty that allows us only a few ordinary words. And I have talked about the selflessness of hokku, in which the writer does not try to draw the attention … Continue reading
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Tagged haikai, hokku, nature, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spirituality, writing, zen
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HOKKU AS SPIRITUAL VERSE
Hokku at its best was and is spiritual verse. That does not mean “religious” in any dogmatic sense. It is not about dogmas and beliefs. It is spiritual in that it re-unites — if only briefly — subject and object, … Continue reading
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Tagged Bashô, crows, haikai, harmony, hokku, nature, Onitsura, poetry, R. H. Blyth, spirituality, W. B. Yeats, writing, zen
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BEWARE OF ANY ENTERPRISE THAT REQUIRES NEW CLOTHES
Dear Readers, I have been teaching hokku on the Internet for some thirteen years. Remember that hokku — or any kind of verse — is only important to the degree that it can help to change your life for the … Continue reading
