Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Buddhist : Zen / Chan 17th Century	About Masahide Timeline (1657? - 1723)
| View All Poems by Masahide | Next Poem >>
English version by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto Original Language Japanese	Barn's burnt down --
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Fire   Moon         Recommended Books Japanese Death Poems, Translated by Yoel Hoffman Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter, Translated by Lucien Stryk / Translated by Takashi Ikemoto	Barn's burnt down -- now I can see the moon.     -- from Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter, Translated by Lucien Stryk / Translated by Takashi Ikemoto Amazon.com
| View More Poems by Masahide | Next Poem >>

Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

I haven't been able to find out much about the life of the Japanese poet Masahide, but I love this haiku. Using less than even the traditional 5-7-5 syllable structure (in this translation), it still manages to say so much.

The moon, as I've pointed out elsewhere, represents Buddha-mind, awakened awareness. The burnt barn can represent worldly calamity and loss which can suddenly open us to the radical, serene truth that surrounds us everywhere; and it can also represent our own self-enclosing thoughts, "burned" down by spiritual practice and the ecstatic psychic collapse that can result.

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.