Triumph of the Sparrow: Zen Poems of Shinkichi TakahashiShinkichi Takahashi is one of the truly great figures in world poetry. In the classic Zen tradition of economy, disciplined attention, and subtlety, Takahashi lucidly captures that which is contemporary in its problems and experiences, yet classic in its quest for unity with the Absolute. Lucien Stryk, Takahashi's fellow poet and close friend, here presents Takahashi's complete body of Zen poems in an English translation that conveys the grace and power of Takahashi's superb art. "A first-rate poet . . . [Takahashi] springs out of some crack between ordinary worlds: that is, there is some genuine madness of the sort striven for in Zen." -- Robert Bly; "We visit places in Takahashi that we once may have visited in a dream, or in a moment too startling to record the perception. . . . You need know nothing of Zen to become immersed in his work. You will inevitably know something of Zen when you emerge." -- Jim Harrison, American Poetry Review |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
A Wood in Sound | 21 |
Aching of Life | 22 |
Snow Wind | 23 |
Canna | 24 |
Time | 25 |
The Pink Sun | 26 |
Thistles | 27 |
Fish | 91 |
Cock | 92 |
Crab | 93 |
Ants | 94 |
Sun | 95 |
Sun through the Leaves | 96 |
Magpie | 97 |
A Richer Ground | 98 |
Rat on Mount Ishizuchi | 28 |
Burning Oneself to Death | 29 |
Nehru | 30 |
Strawberry | 31 |
Ox and Sleet | 32 |
Cock | 33 |
Back Yard | 34 |
The Pipe | 35 |
Crow | 36 |
White Flower | 37 |
A Spray of Hot Air | 38 |
City | 39 |
Murmuring of the Water | 40 |
Pigeon | 41 |
Mummy | 42 |
Red Waves | 43 |
Sparrow in Winter | 44 |
The Martian Rock | 45 |
Destruction | 46 |
Disclosures | 47 |
The Hare | 48 |
Duck | 49 |
What is Moving | 50 |
Autumn Flowers | 51 |
The Peach | 52 |
One Hundred Billionth of a Second | 53 |
Quails | 54 |
Flower | 55 |
Stillness | 56 |
Horse | 57 |
Misty Rain | 58 |
Collapse | 59 |
Sun | 60 |
Words | 61 |
Rain | 62 |
Chidori Pool | 63 |
Bream | 64 |
Time | 65 |
Cat | 66 |
The Position of the Sparrow | 67 |
Life Infinites | 69 |
Paper Door | 70 |
Deck | 71 |
Spring Snow | 72 |
The Cloud and the Butterfly | 73 |
On a Day of Continuous Rain | 74 |
Black Smoke | 75 |
Evening Clouds | 77 |
Mascot | 78 |
Wind | 79 |
Wind among the Pines | 80 |
Stitches | 81 |
Sun and Flowers | 82 |
Comet | 83 |
Immutability | 85 |
Snail | 86 |
Here | 87 |
If I Am Flowers | 88 |
Man | 89 |
Statue of KudaraAvalokitesvara | 90 |
Penguins | 99 |
Ivies | 100 |
Sparrow | 101 |
Apricot | 102 |
White Paper | 103 |
On the Wind | 104 |
Like Dewdrops | 105 |
Apex of the Universes | 106 |
Ice | 107 |
What Dashes? | 108 |
Wild Camomiles | 109 |
The Solid Season | 110 |
Lovebird | 111 |
Rat and Woman | 112 |
Body | 113 |
Afterimages | 114 |
Shell | 115 |
Mushroom | 116 |
Flight of the Sparrow | 117 |
Sky | 118 |
Sparrow in Withered Field | 119 |
Afternoon | 120 |
Hand | 121 |
Sweet Potato | 122 |
Camel | 123 |
Raw Fish and Vegetables | 124 |
Downy Hair | 125 |
Toad | 126 |
Drizzle | 127 |
Sea of Oblivion | 128 |
Cloud | 129 |
Mother and I | 130 |
Sheep | 131 |
Eternity | 132 |
Sparrow and BirdNet Building | 133 |
Clay Images | 134 |
Gods | 135 |
Braggart Duck | 136 |
Stone Wall | 137 |
Beach | 138 |
Moon and Hare | 139 |
Lap Dog | 140 |
Moon | 141 |
Vimalakirti | 142 |
Snowy Sky | 143 |
Near Shinobazu Pond | 144 |
Lets Live Cheerfully | 145 |
Rocks | 146 |
Urn | 147 |
Spring | 148 |
Peach Blossom and Pigeon | 149 |
Spinning Dharma Wheel | 150 |
Four Divine Animals | 151 |
A Little Sunlight | 152 |
Explosion | 153 |
Railroad Station | 154 |
Absences | 155 |
Interview with Shinkichi Takahashi | 157 |
Bibliography | 173 |
Other editions - View all
Triumph of the Sparrow: Zen Poems of Shinkichi Takahashi Shinkichi Takahashi,Takashi Ikemoto Limited preview - 2000 |
Triumph of the Sparrow: Zen Poems of Shinkichi Takahashi 高橋新吉,Lucien Stryk No preview available - 1986 |
Common terms and phrases
Afterimages Anthology Arthur Waley artists awakened bamboo beach billion bird bloom blossoms blue body Bream breath Buddha-nature Buddhist butterfly cloud crab crow Dada dadaist dead death poems disciple Dogen Dokusan dream Duck ears earth everything eyes feeling feet fish flame flowers Fujifusa Gion Festival haiku hairs hand Hare head Hobunkan Hui-neng Hundred Billionth imagine insight Japan Japanese Poetry Kanzan kensho koans Lap Dog leap leaves legs live lovebird Lucien meditate mind moon Mount Ishizuchi mountain moves noumenon once Peach Penguin perhaps philosophy Pigeon pine poems deal poet quail rain Rinzai rock sardines satori shadow Shinkichi Takahashi smoke snow sparrow stone STRYK Suddenly sure tail Takahashi Shinkichi Takashi Ikemoto There's things Thistles thought Tokyo trans translations tree universe Vimalakirti waves What's wind wings woman words write poems Zen master Zen Poems Zen poetry zenki Zennists