Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku Poems - Japanese Zen Poetry Book for Meditation, Mindfulness & Nature Inspiration - Perfect for Yoga Retreats & Spiritual Reading

I have had a passion for the Japanese poetic form of haiku for many years. I have also been interested in how the philosophy of Zen has influenced so many Japanese arts. This book (A Zen Wave: Basho’s Haiku & Zen by Robert Aitken, Published in1978)) is not new, but surprisingly, I had never read this book until recently. The author’s approach in this volume is to show a relationship between the haiku poetic form and Zen Buddhism. He achieves this by reviewing Basho’s (and other poets) poems and provides commentary about the specific poem and how it relates to Zen.This 192 page volume is organized into 26 short chapters. The introduction gives a brief overview of Basho’s life and the development of the haiku poetry form. Some of the material covered in the chapters is as follows: The old pond, the mountain path, autumn in Kiso, wisteria flowers, Quail, suma in summer, that, that’s interesting, the shepherd’s purse, this road, the morning glory and the butterfly and many other poems. There is also a glossary of selected terms and Japanese equivalents of Chinese names.If you are interested in haiku and Zen you should check out this book. You can pick it up at a bargain price on Amazon.Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Haiku Moments: How to read, write and enjoy haiku).