Basho Joy

"Learn the rules well and then forget them." - Matsuo Basho

Autumn moonlight
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut.
- Basho

Basho wrote, "Go to the pine if you want to learn about the pine, or to the bamboo if you want to learn about the bamboo. In doing so you will let go of your subjective preoccupation with yourself. Your poetry arises by itself when you and the object become one."

Basho adored nature, children, and the moon. He found the universe in the smallest details, which he saw with the innocent eye of a child. He spent his later years on pilgrimages across Japan.

There is nothing you can

see that is not a flower.

There is nothing you can

think that is not the moon.

- Basho

Let Basho's joy hop into your day.

Old pond,

frog jumps in

plop. 

"Make the universe your companion, always bearing in mind the true nature of all creation - mountains and rivers, trees and grasses, and humanity - and enjoy the falling blossoms and scattering leaves." - Basho