Haiku by Basho

How admirable,
to see lightning,
and not think life is fleeting

稲妻にさとらぬ人の貴さよ (inazuma ni satoranu hito no tōtosa yo): lightning, and one who does not take it for enlightenment; how admirable. 稲妻 is lightning, the autumn season word, and in the Buddhist figure the instant itself; さとらぬ is who does not awaken, or here who does not take the flash for awakening; 貴さ, also written 尊さ, is the noun of the word for noble, admirable, and よ the exclamation. The verse travels with a headnote, shallow Zen is the root of great harm, and has had one reading since its first printing in 1783: the flash is the moment a shallow Zen mistakes for awakening, and the admirable person is the one who lets it be lightning. The last word is read tōtosa, the plain descendant of the classical form; tattosa is a contracted form of the same word, also old and also current, so the romaji is seen both ways, and three of the four English translators read tōtosa. Shiki, defending a verse of his own in 1891, reached for this one and said: only that. The English is Timothy L. Jackowski's, made for Takase Studios.