That great blue oak
indifferent to all blossoms
appears more noble  (Basho)
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I’m reminded of the great Buddha, sitting like an oak, indifferent to all blossoms or thoughts and states of mind. The great Buddha is Being itself sitting as Now while indifferent to all forms blossoming on its limbs. All mother animals lie and let the blossoms nurse, indifferent to their sucking.

Being like the ocean is indifferent to the waves;
Being like the sky is indifferent to the clouds.
Being like the earth is indifferent to the ants.

Seas slowly darken
and the wild ducks plaintive cry
grows faintly white  (Basho)

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This poem is a surprise because it connects to sense doors, sound and sight, so the sound of the ducks grows faintly….white? Can you hear color? Can you see sound? The modern world is a world of sense doors that are separated, yet there is an interplay that we miss. The poet is speaking from a consciousness that integrates experience through all the senses, so he smell sighs, feels smell, sees sounds…In his haiku Basho integrates his whole being in the world as being one with the world. This whole Being transcends or is prior to the fragmented world reported by sense doors to the self image or Ego.

The Ego as the director selects what sense data supports its story of what should be, of what is expected to be. The Ego only knows what is past, what is stored in the memory banks. But the poet is receiving reality raw, experience that is not selected for image support. The poet has no self image. His poems are footprints in the sand that leave no tracks. There is no body there.