A Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku and Zen

Full disclosure: I came to this book with a strong interest in the haiku of Basho (as well as Issa, Buson, Chiyo-ni, et.al.) but very little knowledge of the Japanese language. Most of the books I've been able to find so far provide various translations but little commentary or translator's notes. A Zen Wave, however, provides much to think on--a well-considered English translation; the original in romanji; and a literal word-for-word translation. Comments on individual poems go into the particular challenges of rendering Japanese into understandable English (random example: "Most translators render naki as "weep," but this is incorrect. Its homonym means "weep," and so this carries through as an overtone, but the ideograph Basho used refers to the cry of any animal, with reference derived from context.") The other aspect of the book is, of course, Zen. Aitken uncovers deeper meaning in Basho's haiku, informed by both Basho's understanding of Zen (he was "familiar with the ways of Zen monks to some degree") and Aitken's own (as a Zen roshi.) These essays take the reader to many delightful places, bringing all sorts of things along the way--poems by T.S. Eliot and Joyce Carol Oates; monk stories; Zen koans; slightly cranky rants (oh, the poor acolyte of the 60s-70s who wanted master Aitken to LOVE his students . . . ); and out-and-out didacticism. "Basho's purpose was not merely self-expression," Aitken tells us. "With his great compassionate heart, he was saying, 'Go thou and do likewise.'" Again, I am no expert on haiku or Zen; merely a student. As such, I found this work both delightful and useful. I would not agree with a previous reviewer who found the book lacking in "depth" but I wouldn't mind if Aitken had tackled more poems. For that matter, I wouldn't mind if other contemporary translators of Japanese poetry would give us more material like this.

A Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku and Zen This book provides an excellent insight into the editing choices that must be made in translating poetry (in this case Zen haiku) from another language into English. I found the author's discussions and commentary to be compelling and answered many questions that had arisen in my mind concerning the interpretation of Japanese haiku. By providing the Japanese poem side-by-side with a literal word-by-word transcription into English, together with the author's translation of the poem into English, I was able to easily follow the author's rationale as to how best to express the essence of the poem. This book is more, however, because it provides insights into Basho the man and Basho the poet, influences upon his life and the poems he wrote, and the context within which those poems were written. By way of further explanation and comparison, the author also provides haiku from other poets and alternative translations of the subject haiku by other translators.

Aitken Roshi is considered by many the dean of American Zen masters. In this book he combines his Zen insight with his university training in liturature to explain Basho's poetry. The book should be read by anyone interested in Zen, and perhaps even more by anyone interested in poetry or literary criticism, since it shows what a wise person can do improve our reading of poetry. If you love Basho or haiku in general, then this book is a must have. It is terrible that this book is out of print.

A ZEN WAVE : Basho's Haiku and Zen. Translated by Robert Aitken. 192 pp. New York and Tokyo : Weatherhill, 1978 and Reissued.All of us, perhaps, need a bit of help when starting to read haiku. As the shortest of all verse forms, with its mere seventeen syllables, it doesn't look like much of a poem at all to the uninitiated, and they may wonder what the fuss is all about. In 'A Zen Wave,' Robert Aitken, who is a noted American Zenist and competent in Japanese, has had the extremely useful idea of compiling a small anthology of haiku by Basho (1644-1694), and providing each haiku with its own full commentary. After finishing the book, readers will have acquired a background in both haiku and Zen, and will be able to further explore haiku by themselves in an informed way.In his brief 5-page Introduction Aitken writes:"... the heart of Basho's haiku is the very foundation of human perception of things - mind itself. Operating superficially, the mind is random in its activity and stale in its insights and images. With practice and experience, however, it is recognized as the empty infinity of the universe and of the self" (pages 18-19).This statement may gain in meaning if we set it alongside an observation made the great Zen Master Dogen (1200-1253), who wrote:"Conveying the self to the myriad things to authenticate them is delusion; the myriad things advancing to authenticate the self is enlightenment" (Tr., F. H. Cook, 'Sounds of Valley Streams,' page 66). The haiku poet is a person who has 'emptied' himself or herself, who has created a space, an "empty infinity" or 'openness,' in which the myriad things can come forward and declare themselves. Haiku capture those moments, and the greatest haiku present us with "the vital experience of the thing itself" (Aitken, page 21). Haiku, therefore, are not so much words about things; they aim rather to present us with a true perception of the thing itself. 'A Zen Wave' presents us with a total of twenty-six of Basho's haiku. For each of them we are given Aitken's translation, the romanized Japanese of the original, and its literal word-by-word translation. Then follow a few words on THE FORM, which in turn are followed by Aitken's very full COMMENTARY. These commentaries are enriched by the inclusion of many other poems, both Japanese and Chinese. The book, which is illustrated with eight photographs, is rounded out with a Glossary of Selected Terms, a table of Japanese Equivalents of Chinese Names, and a short section of Notes giving details of sources.Here, with my slash marks to indicate line breaks, is how Aitken has handled the first haiku, one of Basho's most famous:"The old pond; / A frog jumps in - / The sound of the water.Furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no otoOld pond! / frog jumps in / water of sound" (page 25).Simple though it may seem, we should note that Basho had to work very hard to attain the state of 'openness' that we find in this poem. It was written when he

"In this book, Robert Aitken gives us the haiku in Japanese, then a word-for-word translation, as well as his own translation. He then goes on to comment on why he chose the translation he did, and also how each haiku relates to the practice of Zen.