Where there are humans

by Kobayashi Issa

English version by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto
Original Language Japanese

Where there are humans
You'll find flies,
And Buddhas.

-- from A Box of Zen: Haiku the Poetry of Zen, Koans the Lessons of Zen, Sayings the Wisdom of Zen, Edited by Manuela Dunn Mascetti / Edited by Timothy Hugh Barrett

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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This haiku has me chuckling.

That's what is so infuriating and wondrous about this creature we call the human being. While a deer is utterly and profoundly a deer, and a lion a lion, every human carries the whole menagerie of earth and host of heaven in tow.

I'd just add that, to the Buddhas, the flies too are Buddhas. And so are the humans... So where exactly does that leave us?








Where there are