bell

chatter

cicada

death

Enlightenment (European)

haiku

home

imperfection

July

learning

listening

loneliness

mind

misfortune

moment

momento mori

moon

object

old age

parenting

perception

poetry

poverty

present

rule

sabi

silence

soldier

spirit

training

wisdom

nationality

Japanese

occupation / innovator as

poet

innovator in the field of

artist

The basis of art is change in the universe. Matsuo Basho

is the desire to break the silence with constant human noise, and thus to avoid the sacred terror of that divine encounter.

The desire to break the silence with constant human noise is, I believe, precisely an avoidance of the sacred terror of that divine encounter. Matsuo Basho

is a creature whose sound, calm and serene, penetrates the rock.

Calm and serene / the sound of a cicada / penetrates the rock. Matsuo Basho

is in every moment. Every moment of life is the last, every poem is a death poem.

Every moment of life is the last, every poem is a death poem. Matsuo Basho

is that before which there is only chopping wood and carrying water, and after which, there is only chopping wood and carrying water.

Before enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. Matsuo Basho

is good when it reveals seventy to eighty percent of its subject... that which reveals fifty to sixty percent, we never tire of.

The haiku that reveals seventy to eighty percent of its subject is good. Those that reveal fifty to sixty percent, we never tire of. Matsuo Basho

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. Matsuo Basho

is the sin-qua-non of life. A flute with no holes is not a flute.

A flute with no holes is not a flute. Matsuo Basho

is about accepting the lesson as it is given. One must not impose oneself on the object, but rather one must go to the pine if to learn about the pine and to the bamboo to learn about the bamboo.

Go to the pine if you want to learn about the pine, or to the bamboo if you want to learn about the bamboo. And in doing so, you must leave your subjective preoccupation with yourself. Otherwise you impose yourself on the object and you do not learn. Matsuo Basho

 requires learning. One must learn how to listen as things speak for themselves.

Learn how to listen as things speak for themselves. Matsuo Basho

is mastered when one would be unhappy without it.

The fact that Saigyo composed a poem that begins, 'I shall be unhappy without loneliness,' shows that he made loneliness his master. Matsuo Basho

is, if untrained, random in its activity and stale in its insights and images. With practice and experience, it is freed from the skull, and the fresh and new can appear as though for the first time.

Operating superficially, the mind is random in its activity and stale in its insights and images. However, with practice and experience the mind is freed from the skull, and the fresh and new can appear as though for the first time. Matsuo Basho

is a thing men take to heart and keep them there.

Men take their misfortunes to heart and keep them there. Ihara Saikaku

is, in every instance, the last moment of life, every poem is a death poem.

is the idea that every moment of life is the last, every poem is a death poem.

philosophy

The moon is brighter since the barn burned. Matsuo Basho

is like having become an old tree that bears bitter peaches, a snail which has lost its shell, a bagworm separated from its bag... it drifts with the winds and clouds that know no destination.

My body, now close to fifty years of age, has become an old tree that bears bitter peaches, a snail which has lost its shell, a bagworm separated from its bag... it drifts with the winds and clouds that know no destination. Morning and night I have eaten traveler's fare, and have held out for alms a pilgrim's wallet. Matsuo Basho

is best done strictly. Harshness is for the good of a boy while soft-heartedness will ruin him.

Harshness is for the good of a boy, soft-heartedness will ruin him. Ihara Saikaku

is simply leading a beautiful life... to live it is better than to write it.

Real poetry, is to lead a beautiful life. To live poetry is better than to write it. Matsuo Basho

 must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.

When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write... composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy. Matsuo Basho

Matsuo BashoThinkers

Matsuo Basho