Soen Nakagawa Roshi (1907-1984)

http://mahajana.net/texts/kopia_lokalna/soen-haiku1.html


In his "Preface" to Endless Vow: The Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa (presented with an Introduction by Eido Tai Shimano, Shambhala 1996) Kazuaki Tanahashi writes: "Zen Master Soen Nakagawa was a key figure in the transmission of Zen Buddhism from Japan to the Western world. As abbot of the historic Ryutaku Monastery, he trained monks and lay practitioners. Among them were Robert Aitken and Philip Kapleau, who later became two of the first Westerners to teach Zen in the United States . . . Soen Nakagawa was also an extraordinary poet. In Japan his haiku are renowned, even though no substantial collection of his work has been made available to the general public."




Gratitude!
tears melting into
mountain snow
March 11, 1931


How solemn
each patch of grass
illumined by the moon
Autumn 1932



Having entered monastery
I now know
my life is less than a dewdrop
Autumn 1932




Splendid affinity
sun's great halo
green leaves
May 5, 1933


Straw sandals tossed aside
approaching distant mountain slopes
haze!
Spring 1935



Bowing to Hakuin's Stupa at Ryutaku-ji in Mishima

Endless is my vow
under the azure sky
boundless autumn
Autumn 1937


May this maple leaf
from Hakuin's stupa
cross the ocean
Autumn 1937



On the occasion of the Death of Inido Sensei

One note of the shakuhaci
resounds endlessly
piercing the winter clouds
Winter 1938



A nun has come to visit
now in the moonlight
how bright the icicles!
Winter 1938


Disappearing
snow on mountain peak
unfurls a rainbow
April 1938


Spring approaches
the Pacific Ocean
will be my sitting mat
March 1949


Vast emptiness
as the year comes to a close
I re-enter the mountain
December 1949


Your slightest sorrow --
how dense the summer forest! --
my sorrow deepens
Summer 1949




Wisteria blossoms
fading
saha world
Spring 1953



Step by step
a new-born lamb
eternal spring
Spring 1955