Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The River of Heaven: The Haiku of Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki

The River of Heaven: The Haiku of Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki

Aitken, Robert

Paperback

General Poetry

Publisher Price: $16.95

ISBN10: 1582437106
ISBN13: 9781582437101
Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
Published: May 10 2011
Pages: 208
Weight: 0.60
Height: 0.60 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.20
Language: English
In this, his final work, American senior Zen Roshi Robert Aitken lovingly ties together two threads, Zen practice and haiku. --Spirituality & Health

Known to many as the study of quiet stillness and introspection, Zen Buddhism distinguishes itself through brilliant flashes of insight and its terseness of expression. In River of Heaven these concepts and pillars lend themselves to an exploration of Haiku, one of the most delicate and interpretive poetic forms in the world. The haiku verse form, with its rigid structure and organic description is a superb means of studying Zen modes of thought because its seventeen syllables impose a limitation that confines the poet to vital experience. In Haiku as in Buddhism, the silences are as expressive as the words.

In this volume, American Senior Zen Roshi Robert Aitken gives new insight into Haiku by poetic masters Basho, Issa, Buson, and Shiki. In presenting themes from Haiku and from Zen literature, Aitken illuminates the relationship between the two. Readers are certain to find this an invaluable and enjoyable experience for the remarkable revelation it offers.

I am grateful for Robert Aitken's enthusiastic sharing of poems in The River of Heaven, together with his rich personal and cultural perspectives. It is a book where the author joyfully calls each of us as readers to share in the transcendent joys of haiku. --Juxtapositions

Aitken mines the meanings in these brief gems about nature, impermanence, travel, awareness, silence, beauty, being present, the turn of the seasons, and much more. --Spirituality & Practice

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