{"id":8660,"date":"2025-12-19T08:37:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8660"},"modified":"2025-12-19T08:37:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:37:30","slug":"issa-buddhas-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/19\/issa-buddhas-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Issa – Buddha’s body"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buddha’s body
\nby Kobayashi Issa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by David G. Lanoue<\/font><\/p>\n

Buddha’s body
\naccepts it…
\nwinter rain<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> — from The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a>, Edited by Ivan M. Granger<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by piddy77<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

On this winter day with rain falling outside, I found myself speaking this poem aloud with appreciation…<\/p>\n

I could just live on the nourishment of haiku every day. A few lines, so short they’re almost incoherent… the way they teeter on the edge of meaning and occasionally slip into the void… Something about that desperate line dares the mind to burst open with insight.<\/p>\n

This haiku, for example — I don’t read it as being about enduring uncomfortable weather. There is more than that here. There is acceptance, a quiet contentment, even a welcoming. It is about the recognition of the rightness of things in their season. And that touches the eternal. The Buddha is simply here, always here, always present, and we feel the winter rain is simply passing by for its short moment. The rain touches the Buddha’s face, and then moves on. So too the wind, the sun, the rising of grasses, the blooming of flowers. They come. The Buddha sits, smiles, accepts. And the world moves along again in its cycles of life, becoming and unbecoming, while the Buddha remains. <\/p>\n

And what is the Buddha’s body but us, our very nature? The body arises, the seasons of the self blossom and turn inward again, and through it all there is a still point within us quietly watching, and accepting, and smiling.<\/p>\n

=<\/p>\n

I recently recorded a dialog with Dr. Laurel Trujillo of The Yoga Hour podcast . We had a lovely conversation about poetry, the changing of the seasons — turning inward in the winter, the rediscovering of light and life within — and the way different spiritual traditions speak similarly of love, light and renewal. A sweet way to wrap up the year.<\/p>\n

May we all discover light even in dark times!<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Kobayashi Issa<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThis Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nZen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nHaiku Enlightenment: New Expanded Edition<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Kobayashi<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nKobayashi Issa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Japan (1763 – 1828) Timeline<\/a>
\nBuddhist<\/a> : Zen \/ Chan<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Kobayashi Issa, or simply Issa, is one of Japan’s best known and appreciated haiku poets.<\/p>\n

Issa was born in Kashiwabara, in what is now part of the Nagano Prefecture in Japan. His father was a farmer. Issa’s mother died when the boy was very young and his father soon remarried. Issa’s stepmother mistreated him and, when he was fourteen, Issa was sent to Edo (Tokyo) where he studied haiku.<\/p>\n

Although he gained some notoriety for his poetry early on, he struggled to get by financially and had to travel and work hard until he was in his fifties.<\/p>\n

Though Issa’s life was filled with struggles — the death of his mother at an early age, the conflicts with his stepmother, his poverty, and the death of his own children — his haiku tend to celebrate the serene joys and simple spiritual moments of life.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Kobayashi Issa<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buddha’s body by Kobayashi Issa English version by David G. Lanoue Buddha’s body accepts it… winter rain — from The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology), Edited by Ivan M. Granger \/ Image by piddy77 \/ On this winter day with rain falling outside, I found myself speaking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[1764,1401,40,125,126,87,1393,118],"class_list":["post-8660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-uncategorized","tag-acceptance","tag-buddha","tag-buddhist-poetry","tag-haiku","tag-issa","tag-rain","tag-winter","tag-zen-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8661,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8660\/revisions\/8661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}