Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart

He took haiku to a deeper level, espousing haikai no michi (the Way of Haiku)

several books of spiritual reflections transmitted a spark for this book, including Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion by Pema Chödrön and The Hundred Verses of Advice by Dilgo Khysentse Rinpoche.

This haiku is a deep reflection on the truth of reality, which is by nature transient and fleeting. When we are unable to accept this truth we become distressed. However, recognition of this truth could at least bring a sense of poignancy to all of us human beings, who inevitably experience and witness it. There is even an aesthetic of this recogni

In the words of Dogen, the thirteenth-century Zen master, “when we forget the self, we can remember the 10,000 things.”

“Be honest to yourself; and write what is there.” These words are from the Japanese woman haiku master, Teijo Nakamura,

I used 108 because it is an auspicious number in Buddhist thought as there are 108 difficulties to overcome in order to become awakened, and so there are 108 beads on a Buddhist mala.

I then realized that to search for the so-called Zen mystery in every haiku is a mistake and to do so takes away the depth of their personal flavor and ordinary mind context.

However, this moment is more than a reflection of our day-to-day life—it is a deep reminder for us to pause and to be present to the details of the everyday.