• NedWalters
    1
    Socrates

    The reflecting pond
    waits silently while the man
    examines his life.

    Plato

    Shadows are all things
    to those chained in the dark cave.
    Sunlight waits outside.

    Epicurus

    When we exist, death
    is not here. When it comes,
    we no longer exist.

    Great active learning exercise if you teach students. Baronett's Zen and Western Philosophy has 100+ similar haikus. Get your students to write their own!
  • javi2541997
    5.8k


    Those three examples are not haiku. They are zappai (or even senryū, the last one) because there is not a kigo (a reference to summer, autumn, spring or winter) and they just reflect ideas, not feelings nor amazement.
    It is not necessary to express a lot words in a haiku. It is about to be precise and specific. For example, this one by Bashoō is more philosophical than the rest:

    Oh, tranquility!

    Penetrating the very rock,

    A cicada’s voice.


    ... What an excellent haiku for summertime, right? :smile:

    Haiku is not a Zen souvenir. It is Japanese art and literature. To compose a haiku, you need to work out on Japanese aesthetics previously.
  • T Clark
    13.9k
    William James (sort of)

    Is it true? Who cares?
    What to do next is what's key
    What's useful is true.

    Welcome to the forum.
  • T Clark
    13.9k
    Haiku is not a Zen souvenir. It is Japanese art and literature. To compose a haiku, you need to work out on Japanese aesthetics previously.javi2541997

    Javi is Spanish
    But his soul is Japanese
    He is passionate
  • javi2541997
    5.8k
    Javi is Spanish
    But his soul is Japanese
    He is passionate
    T Clark

    You know I love when you say my soul is Japanese. I have not visited Japan yet. What will happen when I would do so? A criss-crossed between my mind and soul?
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