Zen in Ten: "My Dream Goes Wandering"

Japanese Death Poems by Haiku Poets

This beautiful photograph of Carbaga Creek at Tassajara Zen Mountain centerwas taken by my friend Rin Miller.

Hello Spark Zen readers! I hope you’re doing well today. Below is a selection of haiku from the book Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death. It’s a beautiful reminder that no matter who we are & where we live, we’ll return to the ineffable source. And, we never know when our time will come, so let’s do our utmost to be a source of loving and compassionate presence to all beings. Bowing from San Francisco.

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1. Lightning flickers

   only in the north:

   the moon is overcast.

   —Amano Hachiro, died on the fifth day of the eleventh month, 1868 at the age of thirty-eight

2. Running shallow

   with a year’s end sound:

   river rapids.

   —Arimaru, died in the twelfth month, 1703

3. Flowers of the grass:

   scarcely shown, and withered

   name and all.

   —Asei, died in 1752

4. Earth and metal . . .

   although my breathing ceases

   time and tide go on.

   —Atsujin, died on the thirtieth day of the fourth month, 1836 at the age of seventy-nine

5. Island of Eternity:

   a turtle dries its shell out

   in the first sun rays of the year.

   —Baisei, died on the first day of the first month, 1745

6. The longest winter night:

   plum petals fall and finally

   the western moon.

   —Bankoku, died on the third day of the eleventh month, 1748 at the age of seventy

7. On a journey, ill:

   my dream goes wandering

   over withered fields.

   —Basho, died on the twelfth day of the tenth month, 1694 at the age of fifty-one

8. A parting word?

   The melting snow

   is odorless.

   —Bokusui, died on the twenty-ninth day of November, 1914at the age of forty

9. While I walk on

   the moon keeps pace beside me:

   friend in the water.

   —Masahide, died on the third day of the eighth month, 1723 at the age of sixty-seven

10. At night my sleep

    embraces the summer shadows

    of my life.

    —Oto, died on the thirty-first day of May, 1935 at the age of sixty-seven

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