Zen Haiku and the Art of Kensho

A haiku is a non-rhymed Japanese poem (with an Eastern or Asian history) recording the essence of a moment in three lines. Nature is often combined with or contrasted to human experience.

The more common form of haiku, outside Japan, consists of three lines in a syllabic pattern of 5-7-5. There are 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third, totaling 17 syllables. This is based on the pattern of Japanese haiku that calls for a poem of 17 kana. A kana in the Japanese language represents a linguistic unit that does not always correspond to a syllable of sound. Hence, true Japanese haiku may not equal the 17 syllables of sound prevalent in common English haiku.

Another form of haiku, which is actually more common within Japan, is Zen haiku. Zen haiku is all about moments of awe, moments of insight about life, nature, the world around us.

The Zen philosophers called these moments of insight or little enlightenments, kensho. Moments of kensho are those intense forms of everyday noticings that surprise us or please us because they seem to reveal a truth, or to be exemplary, or to connect us again, momentarily, with the sense of awe.

Another characteristic of Zen haiku is its strong emphasis on seasons, or changes in the natural world which parallel changes in the human world. The season of the year is usually very clear in Zen haiku. The word or phrase that identifies the season in a haiku is the called the kigo in Japanese.

Another characteristic of Zen haiku is that a word or phrase in the poem will indicate a shift in thinking, a contrast or juxtaposition, something that clashes or reveals a surprising shift in thought from the rest of the poem. This shift is called the kireji. A kireji performs the unique function of both cutting and joining; it not only cuts the poem into two parts, but also establishes a connection between the two parts implying that one represents the poetic essence of the other generating an internal comparison, equation, or contrast between the two separate elements.

Zen haiku is not about syllabic requirements, but about content, about capturing kensho and ultimately leading to kensho for the reader. The ideal Zen haiku is still three lines long and brevity is the emphasis, but no strict syllabic requirements are followed.

Whether you stick to the stricter Western English haiku form of three lines with a syllabic requirement of 5-7-5, or go for the freedom of three lines with no syllable requirements, you will be writing a form or variation of haiku. Never let the form or variation of haiku that you write, dictate or limit the parameters of the forms and variations of haiku that others write.

Finally the plural of haiku is NOT haikus, it is haiku. So even though many refer to a group of haiku as haikus, that is inaccurate and the student should be aware of this.

There is also a difference between a haiku and a senryu even though similar forms are retained in both. Haiku is more about a simple and natural perspective of the world, nature and seasons, whereas senryu is more about human nature and humanity in the world.