Basho's thoughts on...

• Woman Central
• Introduction to this site
• The Human Story:
• Praise for Women
• Love and Sex in Basho
• Children and Teens
• Humanity and Friendship
• On Translating Basho
• Basho Himself
• Poetry and Music
• The Physical Body
• Food, Drink, and Fire
• Animals in Basho
• Space and Time
• Letters Year by Year
• Bilingual Basho 日本語も
• 芭蕉について日本語の論文
• Basho Tsukeku 芭蕉付句
• BAMHAY (Basho Amazes Me! How About You?)
• New Articles


Matsuo Basho 1644~1694

The only substantial
collection in English
of Basho's renku, tanka,
letters and spoken word
along with his haiku, travel
journals, and essays.

The only poet in old-time
literature who paid attention with praise
to ordinary women, children, and teenagers
in hundreds of poems

Hundreds upon hundreds of Basho works
(mostly renku)about women, children,
teenagers, friendship, compassion, love.

These are resources we can use to better
understand ourselves and humanity.

Interesting and heartfelt
(not scholarly and boring)
for anyone concerned with
humanity.


“An astonishing range of
social subject matter and
compassionate intuition”


"The primordial power
of the feminine emanating
from Basho's poetry"


Hopeful, life-affirming
messages from one of
the greatest minds ever.

Through his letters,
we travel through his mind
and discover Basho's
gentleness and humanity.

I plead for your help in
finding a person or group
to take over my 3000 pages of Basho material,
to edit and improve the material, to receive 100%
of royalties, to spread Basho’s wisdom worldwide
and preserve for future generations.

Quotations from Basho Prose


The days and months are
guests passing through eternity.
The years that go by
also are travelers.



The mountains in silence
nurture the spirit;
the water with movement
calms the emotions.


All the more joyful,
all the more caring


Seek not the traces
of the ancients;
seek rather the
places they sought.



Basho Spoken Word


Only this, apply your heart
to what children do


"The attachment to Oldness
is the very worst disease
a poet can have."


“The skillful have a disease;
let a three-foot child
get the poem"


"Be sick and tired
of yesterday’s self."


"This is the path of a fresh
lively taste with aliveness
in both heart and words."
.

"In poetry is a realm
which cannot be taught.
You must pass through it
yourself. Some poets have made
no effort to pass through, merely
counting things and trying
to remember them.
There was no passing
through the things."


"In verses of other poets,
there is too much making
and the heart’s
immediacy is lost.
What is made from
the heart is good;
the product of words
shall not be preferred."


"We can live without poetry,
yet without harmonizing
with the world’s feeling
and passing not through
human feeling, a person
cannot be fulfilled. Also,
without good friends,
this would be difficult."


"Poetry benefits
from the realization
of ordinary words."


"Many of my followers
write haiku equal to mine,
however in renku is the
bone marrow of this old man."


"Your following stanza
should suit the previous one as an expression
of the same heart's connection."


"Link verses the way
children play."


"Make renku
ride the Energy.
Get the timing wrong,
you ruin the rhythm."


"The physical form
first of all must be graceful
then a musical quality
makes a superior verse."

"As the years passed
by to half a century.
asleep I hovered
among morning clouds
and evening dusk,
awake I was astonished
at the voices of mountain
streams and wild birds."


“These flies sure enjoy
having an unexpected
sick person.”



Haiku of Humanity


Drunk on sake
woman wearing haori
puts in a sword


Night in spring
one hidden in mystery
temple corner


Wrapping rice cake
with one hands she tucks
hair behind ear


On Life's journey
plowing a small field
going and returning


Child of poverty
hulling rice, pauses to
look at the moon


Tone so clear
the Big Dipper resounds
her mallet


Huddling
under the futon, cold
horrible night


Jar cracks
with the ice at night
awakening



Basho Renku
Masterpieces

With her needle
in autumn she manages
to make ends meet
Daughter playing koto
reaches age seven


After the years
of grieving. . . finally
past eighteen
Day and night dreams of
Father in that battle


Now to this brothel
my body has been sold
Can I trust you
with a letter I wrote,
mirror polisher?


Only my face
by rice-seedling mud
is not soiled
Breastfeeding on my lap
what dreams do you see?



Single renku stanzas


Giving birth to
love in the world, she
adorns herself



Autumn wind
saying not a word
child in tears


Among women
one allowed to lead
them in chorus


Easing in
her slender forearm
for his pillow


Two death poems:


On a journey taken ill
dreams on withered fields
wander about

Clear cascade -
into the ripples fall
green pine needles




basho4humanity
@gmail.com




Plea for Affiliation

 

Plea For Affiliation

 

I pray for your help

in finding someone
individual, university,

or foundation - 
to take over my

3000 pages of material,   
to cooperate with me 

to edit the material,
to receive all royalties 

from sales, to spread

Basho’s wisdom worldwide,
and preserve for

future generations.


basho4humanity

@gmail.com

 



Home  >  Topics  >  Bilingual Basho 日本語も  >  H-27


Chant of Lotus Sutra

法華読む声

Legend:
Words of Basho in bold
Words of other poets not bold

 

Sunshiny day /celestial maiden caresses /the rock spring /Chant of Lotus Sutra /at the window elegantly //

 

はるる日は /石の井なでる /天おとめ /艶なる窓に /法華読む声

 

Seifu begins with a fantasy, and Basho follows with the voice of a living woman:  

 

                            Sunshiny day

                                celestial maiden caresses

                                   the rock spring

                          Chant of Lotus Sutra

                              at the window elegantly

 

Complete Basho Renku Interpretations: vol. 6: p. 15

                          芭蕉連句全註解 6巻:15

 

清風は空想で始まり、芭蕉は生きた女性の声でそれに続く。 

               Haruru hi wa / ishi no i naderu / ten otome      Seifuu

23   はるる日は / 石の井なでる / 天おとめ       

 

             天津乙女が晴れた日には水汲む石井を撫でる

          An angel caresses the clear water flowing from the rocks

 

           En naru mado ni / hokke yomu koe           Basho

24 艶 なる 窓 に / 法華 読む声                  芭蕉

 

芭蕉は、湧き水を撫でる天使法華経を唱える女性の声の優美さを

結びつけと、女性の神性意識として表現しているのである。

 

Basho connects the angel caressing the spring water with the elegance of a female voice

chanting the Lotus Sutra, expressing his awareness of the divine female.


 

In the Noh play The Feather Mantle a celestial maiden caresses the spring water in praise for the beauty of a sunny day on Earth equal to that in Heaven. Basho counters angel, flowing water, and sunny day with a female voice chanting the Lotus Sutra, which for many East Asians contains the ultimate and complete teachings of Buddha. Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda saysThe Lotus Sutra teaches that all living beings possess the world of Buddhahood. There is not even a hint of discrimination toward women.”

The woman in Basho’s stanza chants the Sutra, beginning with the famous nam myoho renge kyo, not in the monotonic drone of priests, but rather elegantly, musically, as a celestial maiden caresses a spring of clear water. In both stanzas the material and spiritual blend through the female, but Basho especially focuses on the elegance of her voice.

 

Tina Turner, who has practiced Buddhism since the 1970s, chants the Lotus Sutra on her CD Beyond. She says:

 “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” is a song. It is a sound and a rhythm and it touches a place inside you. That place is the subconscious mind. I believe that it is the highest place and, if you communicate with it, that is when you receive information on what to do. Singing a song can make you cry. Singing a song can make you happy. That’s spirit—the spirit inside of you. I feel that chanting for thirty-five years has opened a door inside me, and that even if I never chanted again, that door would still be there. I feel at peace with myself.

 

Basho portrays the woman’s path to Enlightenment not inside a temple, but rather beside the window watching the world in sunshine while she sings the words of Buddha. He blends the Lotus Sutra, the heart of Buddhism, with sunshine and nature’s glory to encourage women to find peace with themselves and the world.

 

     はるる日は

        石の井なでる

           天おとめ

    艶なる窓に

       法 華 読 む 声

 

能「羽衣」では、天女が泉の水を撫でながら、地上の晴天が天上の晴天に 匹敵する美しさであることを称賛する。芭蕉は、この天使、流れる水、晴 天に対抗して、多くの東アジア人にとって究極かつ完全な仏の教えである 法華経を唱える女性の声を取り入れたのである。仏教哲学者の池田大作氏 は「法華経は、生きとし生けるものがみな仏の世界を持つと説いている。 そこには女性に対する差別はまったくありません」。芭蕉の句の女性は、 有名な「なむみょうほうれんげきょう」で始まる経典を、僧侶のような単 調な音ではなく、天女が清水の泉を撫でるように優雅に、音楽的に唱えて いる。どちらの句も、女性を通して物質と精神が融合しているが、芭蕉は 特に女性の声の優美さに注目している。

 

1970 年代から仏教を信仰しているティナ・ターナーは、自身の CD『ビヨ ンド』で法華経を唱えている。彼女は言う:

 

"南無妙法蓮華経は歌なのです。音であり、リズムであり、あな たの中のある場所に触れるものです。その場所は、潜在意識です。潜 在意識とコミュニケーションをとることで、何をすべきかの情報を得 ることができるのです。歌を歌えば泣ける。歌を歌えば泣けるし、歌 を歌えば幸せになれる。それが精神、自分の中にある魂です。 35 年 間唱え続けてきたことで、私の中に扉が開かれ、たとえまた唱えなく なったとしても、その扉はまだそこにあるのだと感じています。私は 自分自身に安らぎを感じているのです。

 

芭蕉は、女性の悟りの道を、寺院の中ではなく、窓のそばで、太陽の光を 浴びながら、仏陀の言葉を歌い、世界を眺めるように描いているのである。 仏教の中心である法華経と太陽の光、自然の輝きを融合させ、女性が自分 自身と世界との間に平和を見出すことを促している。 

 

 Basho wrote hundreds of poems about women and children, about friendship, love, and compassion, possibly the most pro-female, child-centered, and life-affirming works in world literature.


女性と子供達、友人や愛や同情をかんじて、 何百もの句を残し心暖かい芭蕉を広く公開しましょう。 最高の女性の味方、子供目線、そして人生の応援歌ではないでしょうか

 

For a menu of 300 Basho articles, see

www.basho4humanity.com/topic-description.php?ID=1525955995


For the entire series of Bilingual Essays, see https://www.basho4humanity.com/topic-category.php?Cat=15


For “Letters from Basho” including translation of 60 letters, see https://www.basho4humanity.com/topic-category.php?Cat=14

 

For Basho’s ultimate masterpiece, the tanka SPRING PASSES BY, see https://www.basho4humanity.com/topic-description.php?ID=1525958016

 

Feedback will be greatly appreciated: basho4humanity@gmail.com

 







<< Love vs. Shame' Anthropology in Basho (H-26) (H-28) As the Goddess Lakshmi >>


The Three Thirds of Basho

 

 

I plead for your help in finding a person or group to take over my 3000 pages of Basho material, to edit and improve the presentation, to receive all royalties from sales, to spread Basho’s wisdom worldwide and preserve for future generations.

 

basho4humanity@gmail.com
Basho's thoughts on...

• Woman Central
• Introduction to this site
• The Human Story:
• Praise for Women
• Love and Sex in Basho
• Children and Teens
• Humanity and Friendship
• On Translating Basho
• Basho Himself
• Poetry and Music
• The Physical Body
• Food, Drink, and Fire
• Animals in Basho
• Space and Time
• Letters Year by Year
• Bilingual Basho 日本語も
• 芭蕉について日本語の論文
• Basho Tsukeku 芭蕉付句
• BAMHAY (Basho Amazes Me! How About You?)
• New Articles


Matsuo Basho 1644~1694

The only substantial
collection in English
of Basho's renku, tanka,
letters and spoken word
along with his haiku, travel
journals, and essays.

The only poet in old-time
literature who paid attention with praise
to ordinary women, children, and teenagers
in hundreds of poems

Hundreds upon hundreds of Basho works
(mostly renku)about women, children,
teenagers, friendship, compassion, love.

These are resources we can use to better
understand ourselves and humanity.

Interesting and heartfelt
(not scholarly and boring)
for anyone concerned with
humanity.


“An astonishing range of
social subject matter and
compassionate intuition”


"The primordial power
of the feminine emanating
from Basho's poetry"


Hopeful, life-affirming
messages from one of
the greatest minds ever.

Through his letters,
we travel through his mind
and discover Basho's
gentleness and humanity.

I plead for your help in
finding a person or group
to take over my 3000 pages of Basho material,
to edit and improve the material, to receive 100%
of royalties, to spread Basho’s wisdom worldwide
and preserve for future generations.

Quotations from Basho Prose


The days and months are
guests passing through eternity.
The years that go by
also are travelers.



The mountains in silence
nurture the spirit;
the water with movement
calms the emotions.


All the more joyful,
all the more caring


Seek not the traces
of the ancients;
seek rather the
places they sought.



Basho Spoken Word


Only this, apply your heart
to what children do


"The attachment to Oldness
is the very worst disease
a poet can have."


“The skillful have a disease;
let a three-foot child
get the poem"


"Be sick and tired
of yesterday’s self."


"This is the path of a fresh
lively taste with aliveness
in both heart and words."
.

"In poetry is a realm
which cannot be taught.
You must pass through it
yourself. Some poets have made
no effort to pass through, merely
counting things and trying
to remember them.
There was no passing
through the things."


"In verses of other poets,
there is too much making
and the heart’s
immediacy is lost.
What is made from
the heart is good;
the product of words
shall not be preferred."


"We can live without poetry,
yet without harmonizing
with the world’s feeling
and passing not through
human feeling, a person
cannot be fulfilled. Also,
without good friends,
this would be difficult."


"Poetry benefits
from the realization
of ordinary words."


"Many of my followers
write haiku equal to mine,
however in renku is the
bone marrow of this old man."


"Your following stanza
should suit the previous one as an expression
of the same heart's connection."


"Link verses the way
children play."


"Make renku
ride the Energy.
Get the timing wrong,
you ruin the rhythm."


"The physical form
first of all must be graceful
then a musical quality
makes a superior verse."

"As the years passed
by to half a century.
asleep I hovered
among morning clouds
and evening dusk,
awake I was astonished
at the voices of mountain
streams and wild birds."


“These flies sure enjoy
having an unexpected
sick person.”



Haiku of Humanity


Drunk on sake
woman wearing haori
puts in a sword


Night in spring
one hidden in mystery
temple corner


Wrapping rice cake
with one hands she tucks
hair behind ear


On Life's journey
plowing a small field
going and returning


Child of poverty
hulling rice, pauses to
look at the moon


Tone so clear
the Big Dipper resounds
her mallet


Huddling
under the futon, cold
horrible night


Jar cracks
with the ice at night
awakening



Basho Renku
Masterpieces

With her needle
in autumn she manages
to make ends meet
Daughter playing koto
reaches age seven


After the years
of grieving. . . finally
past eighteen
Day and night dreams of
Father in that battle


Now to this brothel
my body has been sold
Can I trust you
with a letter I wrote,
mirror polisher?


Only my face
by rice-seedling mud
is not soiled
Breastfeeding on my lap
what dreams do you see?



Single renku stanzas


Giving birth to
love in the world, she
adorns herself



Autumn wind
saying not a word
child in tears


Among women
one allowed to lead
them in chorus


Easing in
her slender forearm
for his pillow


Two death poems:


On a journey taken ill
dreams on withered fields
wander about

Clear cascade -
into the ripples fall
green pine needles




basho4humanity
@gmail.com




Plea for Affiliation

 

Plea For Affiliation

 

I pray for your help

in finding someone
individual, university,

or foundation - 
to take over my

3000 pages of material,   
to cooperate with me 

to edit the material,
to receive all royalties 

from sales, to spread

Basho’s wisdom worldwide,
and preserve for

future generations.


basho4humanity

@gmail.com