Zen Monks Talking Big

by Judy Halebsky

        稲妻に悟らぬ人の貴さよ

                Bashō

        inazuma ni

        satoranu hito no

        tattosa yo

Bashō played softball, second base

he also slept with the nuns and had to leave town

drank sake in rice fields

talked to spiders and half moons and cobwebs

laughed at the rain getting his sleeping mat wet

        watching the lightning

        those who share simply

        are noble

inazuma (lightning) ni (with)

satora (enlightened, realized) nu (not) hito (people) no (possessive)

tattosa (honorable, noble) yo (yo)

I repeat: yo means yo

        highbrow talk

        ever the lightning

        such a pity

From Sky = Empty, Kalamazoo, Michigan: New Issues Press / Western Michigan University, 2009, page 16. Bashō’s haiku has also been translated as “how admirable / to see lightning / and not think life is fleeting.”