!["Haiku: Eastern Culture" - Translations and commentary by Reginald H. Blyth](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff86e38dd4cdc650b26083e/1681666662131-B2BHFRM9IJSMEY4BHTVO/Haiku.png)
"Haiku: Eastern Culture" - Translations and commentary by Reginald H. Blyth
A haiku is not a poem, it is not literature;
it is a hand becoming,
a door half-opened,
a mirror wiped clean.
It is a way of returning to nature,
to our moon nature,
our cherry blossom nature,
our falling leaf nature,
in short, to our Buddha nature.
![“Concentration” — Author Unknown](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ff86e38dd4cdc650b26083e/1611770825733-AGMRX76YGPHNJ474T42T/screenshot_617.png)
“Concentration” — Author Unknown
After winning several archery contests, the young and rather boastful champion challenged a Zen master who was renowned for his skill as an archer. The young man demonstrated remarkable technical proficiency when he hit a distant bull's eye on his first try, and then split that arrow with his second shot.
'There,' he said to the old man, 'see if you can match that!'