found in translation

reading robert aitken roshi's brilliant expositions on basho's haikus (a zen wave: basho's haiku and zen). they are a unique blend of literary criticism and dharma talks. the structure of each essay which is focused on a specific haiku is as follows- it starts with the main haiku written in english phoneics, then an english rendering (usually not adhering to the 5-7-5 syllabary of the original japanese form), and finally a more literal translation which follows closely the peculiarities and nuances of the japanese language with its cutting words and postpositions. for instance, the last line of basho's famous haiku is rendered as water of sound instead of sound of water. incidentally, tamizh has the same form- for example it would be thanniin o-sai where the postposition in modifies thanni. my theory is that languages which are sensitive to poetry will also be flexible to allow poets to play with syntax.

then the commentary on the haiku itself, often employing other haikus of basho or his contemporaries or even modern poets (eliot, snyder) and finally a capping verse, usually aitken's. in other words, the structure is very similar to how koans are treated classically in the blue cliff records or the gateless gate.

for the past few days, my routine following the obligatory matutinal ablutions is to make chai and read a chapter, slowly savouring the words and the sweet chai. the morning walk to work has also been enjoyable, despite the weather.

deep white snow
finally covered by the drifts-
the plastic hyacinth !

note: on the front garden of one of the houses along my walk, someone with a weird sense of humour has planted a plastic hyacinth plant. it was, strangely, not very apparent in the fall but with the snows, the green and violet stood out. it was amusing to note it, every morning.