Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --
 | Crow's By Matsuo Basho English version by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto
Crow's
 / Photo by Nicki Verkevisser / |
| ============ Thought for the Day: When all else fails you, ============ | Here's your Daily Music selection --  Sacha Silva Susurro |
Hi Omss -
Basho was probably born in 1644 in Iga Province outside of Kyoto, Japan. His father was a poor samurai-farmer.
As a teenager, Basho entered the service of the local lord, acting as a page. The young lord was only a couple of years older than Basho, and the two became friends, enjoying the playful exchange of haiku verses.
When Basho was still a young man, his friend and lord died. In reaction, Basho left home, abandoned his samurai status, and took to a life of wandering.
After several years, he settled in Edo (Tokyo), continuing to write and publish poetry. His haiku began to attract attention. Students started to gather around him. At about this time, Basho also took up Zen meditation.
Basho remained restless, even in his fame. A neighborhood fire claimed his small house in Edo leaving him homeless, and Basho once again took up the itinerant life, visiting friends and disciples, taking up residence for brief periods only to begin another journey. It was during this time that Basho composed some of his greatest haiku.
Basho returned to Edo in 1691 and died there in 1694.
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It's usually a mistake to try to explain a haiku's meaning, since its primary impact is not really comprehended by the logical mind at all. Most haiku aren't composed with intentioned metaphors; rather, the moment naturally resonates with nature's implied truths.
But, for the sake of play, let's dig into this one a bit anyway...
In this haiku by Basho, each line gives us a distinct element: a crow, an abandoned nest, and a plum tree. Basho ordered his lines so first we have the awareness of a crow, which can be understood as representing the busy mind, a bird that proclaims its presence by croaking in the winter sky. Like the mind, the crow is a carrion feeder, awkward in its movements but somehow suggestive of a hidden reality.
Next, Basho shows us that this crow has abandoned its nest. With the coming of spring, the crow has left, the mind has emptied itself, grown quiet, still.
An empty nest may be a curiosity for a moment, but its animating principle, the part that normally holds our attention has vanished, and so the vision widens and we finally see the plum tree that supports it. Watching the empty mind, we finally expand our perception and recognize the full awareness in flower. We witness the natural, unmodified awareness of the Buddha mind that upholds mind and all creation.
Crow -- empty nest -- plum tree.
Mind -- no mind -- Buddha mind.
Ivan
Share Your Thoughts on today's poem or my commentary...
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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.
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