Basho’s Pilgrimage

Many would regard Basho (1644-1694) as the foremost Japanese poet. His poems and written works—chiefly short travel diaries—are regarded as classics. Basho is of interest to students of the non-dual teachings because his life was a quest for ultimate fulfilment, and his writings, with their freshness and beauty, often contain deep insights.

By birth and background, Basho was a Buddhist, but he identified himself with no special sect or creed. He once went to the great temple of Zenkoji, which, at that time, provided living quarters for four different Buddhist sects. There he wrote:

Four gates
And four different sects
Sleep as one
Under the bright moon.

The outer aspects of religion, for Basho, were less important than the need to become ‘religiously enlightened’. He never regarded himself as a master of inner peace, but rather as a seeker, and one who was often dissatisfied with his inner state. He wrote with characteristic modesty:

I was clad in a black robe, but neither a priest nor an ordinary man of this world was I, for I wavered ceaselessly like a bat, which passes for a bird at one time and for a mouse at another.

Yet Basho undoubtedly knew more than he cared to express in the written word. For he had fathomed many secrets which are only available to a quiet mind. He knew the value of such a mind, both for creativity and for inner peace. This is also a key element of the non-dual practices, where it is held that an excited or over-active mind is of far less value than one that is tranquil.