Haiku 12: Hole in the Shoji

Here is today's haiku:

うつくしやしようじの穴の天の川

And in romaji:

utsukushi ya shoji no ana no ama no gawa

And English: "Beautiful! In the hole in the shoji, the river in the sky."

This is a haiku by Issa, and it is another one of my favorites. I am very pleased with my English translation too because it reflects the use of the の particle three times, just like in my translation: in the hole in the shoji, the river in the sky (ama-no-gawa / kawa). Literally translating the description of the "river in the sky," I lose the English equivalent of "Milky Way" for "river in the sky," but that's okay: I'd rather keep the word-pattern of Issa, and the idea of "river in the sky" is very appealing. I like the way that even if you are inside, you can still catch a glimpse of the infinite outside... and so maybe, too, inside your mind, so to speak, you can still get a glimpse of the infinite.

art by FuyuTiger

My vocabulary for today:

川
かわ
"river"

Proverb 12: Tanuki Not-Yet-Caught

Here is today's proverb:

捕らぬ狸の皮算用

And in romaji:

toranu tanuki no kawa zanyo

And English: "Counting the skins of tanuki not yet caught."

I was excited to find a proverb about tanuki because I am such a fan of folktales about the tanuki, a great trickster and shape-shifter. You can read about the tanuki, or raccoon-dog, at Wikipedia.

This proverb is a great lesson about not living in the future: you don't know what the future brings, and you haven't caught those tanuki yet! There are similar sayings in cultures around the world. In English compare "counting your chickens before they're hatched," or, even closer to the tanuki saying, "Don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear."

Live in the present instead.

And watch out for those sneaky tanuki!

painting by Choho

My vocabulary for today:

狸
たぬき
"tanuki"

Parable 12: The Donkey in the Lion Skin

There was once a merchant who used a donkey to carry his wares. To avoid having to pay for the donkey's fodder, the merchant put a lion-skin on the donkey and then turned the donkey loose in the fields. The villagers were afraid of this “lion” and thus the donkey was able to eat his fill.

A wise farmer, however, heard the “lion” braying like a donkey, so the villagers then beat the donkey and stole the lion-skin.

The merchant later found the donkey's body in the field. “That foolish donkey should have kept his mouth shut!” he said sadly.

~ ~ ~

This is another of the Buddha's past-life stories or jataka tales; this story is the Sihacamma Jataka. It is also one of the jatakas that is found also in the fables of Aesop. 

The Buddha used this to rebuke a false teacher, someone whose unworthiness became apparent as soon as he opened his mouth, just like the donkey in the story. After telling the story, the Buddha identified his previous birth as a the wise farmer who recognized the donkey for what he was. He did not say anything about the deceitful merchant; that is a distinctive feature of this version of the story, but it didn't figure in the Buddha's interpretation. 

When we are seeking teachers, we need to find lions, not donkeys. :-)

illustration by John Batten

Haiku 11: Along the shore...

Here is today's haiku:

磯ぎはにざぶりざぶりと波打ちて

And in romaji:

isogiwa-ni zaburi-zaburi to nami uchite

And English: "English"

This is a haiku by Issa, and it features onomatopoeia, which is one of my favorite things in Japanese (or any language): ざぶりざぶり"zaburi-zaburi" (with the particle と "to" afterwards, which apparently makes the onomatopoeia into an adverb). I went ahead and said splash-crash instead of splash-splash because waves are just so big; they are doing more than just splashing, right?

art by Katsushika Hokusai

My vocabulary for today:

波
なみ
"wave"

Parable 11: Drawing God

A little girl was drawing intently; scratch scratch scratch went her pencil. 

Then her brother walked into the room. "Hey," he said, "what are you drawing? Show me!"

She hunched down over the paper. "No! It's not ready yet!"

"Well, at least tell me what it is!"

"I'm drawing a picture of God," she said.

"You're drawing... God?" Her brother burst out laughing. "That's just silly!" he said. "Nobody knows what God looks like!"

The girl gazed up and smiled at her brother. "Well," she said confidently, "they will once I finish my drawing!"

Scratch scratch scratch went her pencil. 

~ ~ ~

This is not a Zen parable per se, but when I read it in Robin Gill's book of New Year haiku (The Fifth Season), I couldn't stop thinking about it. So much of religion, so much of seeking, so much of meditation is about something ineffable, but at the same time there is so much writing about it, teaching about it, singing about it, painting about it, and on and on. We can't help but be like that little girl in what we do, even if we are also her little brother at the same time. 

I was curious how this story circulates online, and I see that it has been greatly popularized by Sir Ken Robinson!