old pond ...
a clay Buddha stares
into water's sound
Jackson Smith
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
古塘 ...
一座泥土佛像凝視
池水的聲音
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
古塘...
一座泥土佛像凝视
池水的声音
Bio Sketch
Jackson
Smith is a writer and homemaker from Chicago, Il. He is a grateful
heart transplant recipient. He first started writing to cope with
isolation during the time in the hospital spent waiting for a new heart
to become available.
Evaluated in the context of the Buddhist interpretation of Basho's old pond haiku, the image of a "clay Buddha [staring]/into water's sound" effectively adds emotional weight and psychological depth to Jackson's allusive haiku.
ReplyDeleteNotes:
1 Robert Aitken’s "A Zen Wave: Bashô’s Haiku and Zen," which can be accessed at http://www.bopsecrets.org/gateway/passages/basho-frog.htm
2 "The Ripples from a Splash: A Generic Analysis of Basho’s Frog Haiku" by Chen-ou Liu, Magnapoets, #7, January 2011, which can be accessed at http://haikureality.theartofhaiku.com/esejeng96.htm