The Haiku is a deceptively simple form of Japenses poetry. It consists of 17 syllables in three lines. The first line has five syllables, the second line contains seven syllables, and the concluding third line has five syllables.

The idea is to pack as many layers of meaning as possible into the three lines, a very oriental approach. A good haiku will leave a person pondering for hours if not days and weeks, but I'm not claiming all the haikus here are in that lofty category.

As a literary form the Haikus which appear in Japanese cannot be translated into English because of the vast differences in the two languages. So new ones are written in English. That's part of the fun.

One of the sub-genres of haiku in Japan is the koan. A koan is a Zen Buddhist story or saying which contains a logical contradiction designed to yank the student's mind out thinking in ruts. Contrary to popular Western myth the point of the koan is not to bring instant enlightenment but instead stretch the student's concept of mind.

Most koans exist in prose form, but on occasion they are placed in Haiku form. To me such koans posses far more depth and meaning. A few such koans follow amongst the other Haikus. (Some days I'm more inspired than others.) You can sort out which is which. A couple are obvious.