A prefatory note from the author: This is a slightly modified version of a letter I wrote to Karl in 2007. Part of it was sent to Bob as well. Hope they won't mind my publishing it here. It is just a note to Karl's book-length essay still in progress and Bob's "From Haiku To Lyriku". I've liked both a lot. Knowing bios, background, author's intention etc. may be helpful. But kindred spirits of the author and the reader can be smart when communicating with each other.

Dear Karl,

Thank you so much for sending me the draft of your review! The spiritual background given by you is very interesting and informative. It should be read, perhaps, as a companion to Bob's book. That would be really useful and I can't see any other practical solution since Bob's and your factual knowledge, readings etc. are and will remain different.

I've been interested in a few schools of Buddhism (and the funny history of their interpretations) for quite a long time, but remain a beginner. With that background I claim that Bob has a deep sense of those things/processes that "mu", "zen experience" in general, etc. (the liminological aspects of speach and the speach/silence dialectics) may represent. As I see, on the level of aesthetics (is wisdom something different today?) his earlier "manywhere-at-once" and his recent "doing" (versus only "telling") function similarly to some of those traditional ideas you mention in your review. From my perspective all of them, "zen experience", "haiku moment" included, are - just? - metaphors, metaphors, metaphors. Beautiful ones, pointing to…

(To the same direction? :-)

Webmaster's note to Márton: I hope you're right in all you say. I would add that whatever the Zen experience is, we westerners have learned a lot about it from haiku.