SOURCE: "Poetry and Zen," in Encounter with Zen, Swallow Press Books, 1981, pp. 51-65.

In the following essay, Stryk explores the nature, meanings, dominant moods, and other characteristics of Zen poetry.

I

One spring day in 1912, the German lyric poet Rainer Maria Rilke had an extraordinary experience, which, based on the poet's account to her, the Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe described in the following manner:

He wandered absent-minded, dreaming, through the undergrowth and maze of briars, and suddenly found himself next to a huge old olive tree which he had never noticed before.… The next thing he knew he was leaning back into the tree, standing on its gnarled roots, his head propped against the branches.… An odd sensation came over him so that he was fixed to the spot, breathless, his heart pounding. It was as though he were extended into another life, a long time...