The Awakened One: Buddha-Themed Haiku from Around the World

Pairing contemporary haiku by poets from around the world with classical Japanese haiku, The Awakened One offers us a poetic dialog on the nature of awareness across culture and time.\nModern haikuists from the UK, the US, Croatia, India, Nigeria and a dozen other countries converse via haiku with Japanese masters, like Basho, Issa and Buson, sharing moments of insight expressed in poetry of a single breath.\nheavenly mystery . . .
autumn leaves
descend on a stone buddha
- Imaizumi Sogetsu-ni\nsudden wind
the garden buddha’s head crowned
with cherry blossoms
- Olivier Schopfer (Switzerland)\nPRAISE FOR THE AWAKENED ONE\nThis is the first anthology I have seen that collects contemporary haiku from every continent, every nook and cranny of our planet. Pairing Japanese masters of the past with people writing haiku right now, The Awakened One is full of little zap insights. You feel that thrill, that quick wake-up to the ordinary, when the junky human stuff drops away and our world feels moist, tender, and real. Why has haiku been equated for so long with Buddhist insight? Pull this packet, compiled by Adjei Agyei-Baah and Gabriel Rosenstock, from your hip pocket. You might find your original self peeking from these little poems.\n- Andrew Schelling
editor The Wisdom Anthology of North American Buddhist Poetry