Zen and Haiku Writing

Zen has had a considerable impact on Haiku poetry, with both sharing some common qualities and some differences. One of the most important common aspects rests on our ability to pay attention to what is happening around us. In both we learn to receive the world just as it is, and in haiku writing we can share this experience with others.

In this 90 minute workshop, Kokuu Andy McLellan will give an overview of the history of haiku, especially in relation to the four great haiku masters, describe what a haiku is (and isn’t!) and show how to start (or improve) writing your own poems.

After that we will spend some time sitting quietly in or near the outside world (a window is just fine) and forming sense impressions into haiku which we will then have the option of sharing with the rest of the group.

Kokuu is a Sōtō Zen priest and teacher and a former member of the British Haiku Society with many years of experience of writing and publishing haiku poems.