Chiyo-ni was a Pure Land Buddhist nun, but also an artist and haiku poet. She embodied the spirituality of the poetry path.

Here is one of her most celebrated poems "Oh, Morning Glory!":


The morning glory!
It has taken the well bucket
I must ask elsewhere for water.


Well, at first, and mostly if one is not familiar with Haiku poetry, one can feel intrigued about the meaning of the poem. I had to read a Zen Master commentary about this poem to go a bit further...

"The first line, 'Oh morning glory!' does not contain anything intellectual...it is the feeling, pure and simple, and we may interpret it in any way we like. The following two lines, however, determine the nature and depth of what was in the mind of the poetess: when she tells us about going to the neighbor for water we know that she just left the morning glory as she found it...she does not even dare touch the flower, much less pluck it, for in her inmost consciousness there is the feeling that she is perfectly one with reality.

"When beauty is expressed in terms of Buddhism, it is a form of self-enjoyment of the suchness of things. Flowers are flowers, mountains are mountains, I sit here, you stand there, and the world goes on from eternity to eternity, this is the suchness of things." (D. T. Suzuki)