by Alison

Chapter 40 - Cutting Through

splitting
the stone of a white peach
with the edge of the knife

-  Takako Hashimoto

Patricia Donegan invites us to be daring. To get rid of our attachment to every thought and deliberation and instead take action. Action that is swift and bold. Courageous and precise. Like the sword work of a Samurai or the bravery of Joan of Arc. Or the quick action of cutting through the stone of a peach to obtain the perfect seed.

This is a tall order and something that is difficult for most of us. A bold action without clarity and precision can lead to chaos. Precision without courage can lead to inaction. Precision and courage without clarity can lead to the wrong action. What to do? How to gain the insight and courage to “cut through?”

I’ve cut through on occasion, as have most of us. My decision to move to Argentina during my mid-twenties was an act of cutting through. Before my move I had spent several years bogged down in post-college angst. Worried about a chronic health problem, a difficult relationship and what in the world to do with my life, my mind was on hyper-speed. I seemed to be consuming myself and getting nowhere. Then a friend suggested I try yoga and I started to change. Yoga allowed me to slow down, get reacquainted with silence and gradually I began to gain clarity - and courage. Suddenly, the question of whether to accept a job in a foreign country was clear. Yes! And this decision forever changed my life for the better.

Basho advocated this approach to writing haiku, the process of which should be like “biting a pear or cutting into a watermelon.”  Easy and direct. Forceful and strong. It is the obtainment of this clarity, skill and courage that is the lifelong journey of haiku. And I will think about this when ten years after my South American adventure and quietly settled in the suburbs, I try to summon my inner Samurai.

Find Haiku Mind on Amazon:
Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart

Cutting Through haiku and Basho quote excerpted from Haiku Mind by Patricia Donegan, (c)
2008. Published by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston.
www.Shambhala.com.