The Four Noble Truths and Commentary

The Four Noble Truths
a haiku by Dan Sturn

The Four Noble Truths
When I ordered steak,
the Dharma showed me I stood
in a Sushi Bar.

The Review
Note: I have utmost respect for this reviewer, who is a male who has taught me much on writing.com.

Frankly, I find much in this 14-word poem that I don't understand. It is obviously in haiku style--at least that is easily understood. What is not understood is the following array of queries:

What are the 4 truths?
Why are they noble?
What has Dharma got to do with steak / sushi bar?

Please note that Sharma is a Sanskrit / Hindi word with a specific and unambiguous meaning in Hinduism / Indian cultural tradition.

My Response:
Note that I have modified this from the original response to protect the name of the reviewer but also to be better written.

Thanks for your review and your questions. Haiku is not meant to instruct, and you would need to already understand some of the basics of Buddhism to understand the haiku.

These basics are expressed in the Four Noble Truths, which can be summarized as follows:

The Four Noble Truths is the essence of the dharma, which in most traditions means "the teachings of the Buddha."

         All human beings suffer, and there is a cause of this suffering. You can be free of suffering by becoming of aware of how your own view affects suffering, how well you are staying focused on your intention to end suffering, being aware of the way you communicate with others, being aware of how you can minimize as much as possible the harm you cause to others, especially in your livelihood. And, if you work hard at this, you will learn to calm your mind and this awareness will lead to freedom from suffering.

So when I heard the haiku:

When I ordered steak,
the Dharma showed me I stood
in a Sushi Bar.

I decided to name it "the Four Noble Truths." Naming haiku is a practice I use, but it's not really a part of the haiku tradition. It allows me to get one more line of meaning in there. Yes, it is cheating, and I've been so guilty of it, I even have one haiku where the title is about a dozen words.

So . . . . when I heard that haiku, I thought: the dharma teaches me that freedom is not getting all bent out of shape if they won't serve me steak in a sushi bar.